2018-01-08: Graverobber
- Log: Graverobber
- Cast: Riesenlied, Ida Everstead-Rey, Ambrosius, Malfi, Josephine Lovelace, Morgan Newkirk, Dayton Derrida, Cassidy Cain, Noeline, Heal Berry, Jude Moshe
- Where: Gunsmoke Desert
- Date: January 8th, 2018
- Summary: The trap is sprung, but the target came prepared... In the end, who will escape with the prize?
This scene takes place after 2018-01-07: Masquerade.
============================<* Gunsmoke Desert *>============================= The Gunsmoke Desert occupies the northwestern portion of Ignas. This desert is different from Aveh's. Instead of rolling dunes of sand, it has dry and cracked ground, and the mountains that rim it also intrude into the interior, forming stunning rock formations that can look as beautiful as they look impossible. The settlements here are hard-pressed to survive, consisting of countless small towns. The lucky few are connected by railways to the Seed Cities scattered about the Gunsmoke. Many are lost to the sands, which cover them and a tremendous concentration of ruins from Filgaia's past. This makes these badlands the heart of Drifter activity in Ignas.
DC: Noeline switches forms to Chevalier of the Dragon! DC: Riesenlied switches forms to Rising Heart Riesenlied! DC: Morgan Newkirk switches forms to Kislev Arena Gear! DC: Lily Keil switches forms to Hellerune!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Port Solde is one of Ignas' most prominent supporting ports; while Jolly Roger enjoys its status as the continent's first point of call with the rest of the western world, its island nature means it is still reliant on larger port cities inland for storage. Port Solde, in particular, handles the passage of many kinds of traffic ranging from staple foodstuffs to exotic fare.
It is at the crack of dawn that Riesenlied -- under the guise of 'Olivia Carver' -- stands at the end of a wharf, a massive crate draped with the emblazoned tarp of House Carver beside her. A ship bound for Jolly Roger connecting to Meria Boule is scheduled to arrive by the end of daybreak, and she does not intend to be late.
Riesenlied herself has maintained her disguise, of course -- though her gown is remarkably simpler than at the ball. A form-fitting faint pink gown with a capelet and flaring sleeves, still, complete with leggings and boots over her legs. No sword or other weapon is present, as would befit an ingenue of House Carver.
Of course, to those in the know, there are many more elements already in play. Just of the Ebony Wings' original division, Icedrake and Dva are awaiting instructions below the water's surface, uniquely suited to aquatic movement; Jedan is perched underneath tarp atop one of the warehouse rooftops, and Devet is hidden within an unassuming passenger carriage, ready to run interference with barriers to help keep civilians and passerby should they become involved in this.
And Olivia Carver is not alone, as she was in the Midwinter Ball. Her entourage and most trusted retainers are here as well, perhaps for show, perhaps for her protection. One cannot be too careful in Filgaia nowadays.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The fossil has not made its journey solely in the care of "Olivia Carver" and her staff. The person previously identified as Mme. Butterfly has made the journey alongside them, accompanied by some of her own people. She introduced herself as Zoe Beauchamp, a merchant and antiquities collector from Meria Boule, and has made polite, bubbly conversation with Ms. Carver, and perhaps the other Ms. Carver as well.
"It's not that I don't trust you," said Miz Beauchamp, when the subject came up. "But I've found I can rest much easier when I'm accompanying something like this myself. I'm sure you understand." Now she stands at the end of the pier, wearing a suit-and-tie ensemble that's every bit as stylish as the dress she wore at the auction. (It's only a little less daring in its neckline, too.)
Some distance away, a cloaked figure makes their way down an alley, overshadowed on either side by towering dockside warehouses. It's a respectable distance away from the pier with Olivia, Miz, Beauchamp, and the fossil crate--far enough to likely avoid collateral damage, but close enough that someone with a spyglass can observe it. The figure pulls a small metal cylinder from their belt, and unfolds it into looking-glass format. The figure looks at the dockside, confirming their suspicions--and pulls the cloak aside to reveal a small gunsmoke ARM with a wide muzzle. A signal flare.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius has been traveling alongside 'Olivia Carver' the whole time, as one of her bodyguards. He has not said even a single word during that time, only acknowledging anything directed toward him with a simple nod or a shake of the head as necessary. Perhaps, however, however, no has one thought to address him. The sight of him could be rather intimidating, dressed as he was in durable-looking body armor and a black helmet that conceals his face.
He does not appear to be armed, though there are a series of bags strapped to his person.
Ambrosius - or 'Merlin', his alias - pauses at the end of the docks alongside the others, arms folded behind his back and standing at attention.
His gaze drifts toward Miz Zoe Beauchamp, studying her for a moment, but he does not study her for long before looking toward the rest of her entourage.
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi has accompanied the Metal Dragon skull, though she's been hanging back. She's now clad in her normal outfit and carrying her weapon. Every now and then she shoots "Olivia Carver" a Look that says: don't let the humans have it. Ancestors' remains should be interred respectfully -- or given new life with the young...
Between Looks she glances around the pier warily, well aware that Beachamp paid a staggering ten million gella for the skull -- which, if Malfi has her way, she won't be allowed to keep!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
She'd left ahead of the rush. There was terrain to cross and little time to do it in.
The suit has been discarded for more typical garb, the mask, cast aside. The only thing she bears now high up in her perch upon one of the warehouses -- at an angle from Jedan, to cover his blindspot -- is a singular trusted rifle.
The only sign at all that this hasn't been a typical time for Josie is the fact that her hair is pulled back into a ponytail rather than done up in its usual braided bun. There hasn't been the time.
More pressing things are needed.
Up here, it's somewhat chill. Yet, that's not what's evoked goosebumps for Josephine Lovelace.
The only time she feels more alive than she does right now are those moments after a firefight has broken out.
Right now, anticipation -- the thrill before the hunt -- reigns.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
Off on one corner of the pier, back further from where the rest of the party is handling. They lazes a fox. Sandy furred ears flicker lazily in the breeze of the dozens of conversations as one Morgan Newkirk leans his back against a crate ready for departure. Legs hanging over the side of the dock and hands behind his head, forming a pillow so the Drifter seems, for all the world, like he was taking a nap in the sun.
Port Solde was an important city, and the Guild pays good money to see that shipments aren't that messed with. Which is mostly the reason he was there.
The other reason being after having to slog though congealed bad feelings he really needed a vacation and here was as good as any.
...I mean really. Whats the worst that could happen.
<Pose Tracker> Dayton Derrida has posed.
There are people who get around more than Dayton Derrida, though when the time comes he can be just about anywhere he wants to be. That's especially true when there are matters of business development to attend to - such as visiting one of Ignas's most prominent supporting ports and making a few purchases from wealthy muckity-mucks who might have come into some interesting pieces of junk that he could use.
He came with nobody. He's down by the docks, not far from a large ship, smiling as he comes away from a transaction with a small piece of equipment. Tucking it into his coat pocket, he picks up his cane from there and begins to make his way back down the length of the pier, evidently satisfied that he got what he wanted.
He has absolutely no clue there are others with designs on this place. Whatever's happening out there is beyond his world these days - or perhaps closer to it than he might prefer.
Day slips a notepad out of his vest pocket. Furrowing his brows, he jots down a few notes on the page thereafter. The notes mostly consist of mathematical equations and some bits of scribble incomprehensible to anyone but those versed in his terrible, terrible shorthand.
He flips back to the front of the notebook, and slashes off an obscurely-named item with his pen.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Footsteps, from below. The figure's head jerks downwards as three figures enter the warehouse, polished-looking people in decent suits. The figure flattens against the wall as they look up, scanning the room in silence. Slowly, surely, the cloaked figure makes for the nearby ladder. As the three intruders go to examine a stack of crates, they climb down to the warehouse floor, hand over hand. The figure's head moves beneath the hood again, taking a glance around--that can't be all of them, but they're not about to stick around and find out. They rush for the door--
Something whips out at them as they step through. Split-second reflexes turn a violent strike to the side of the head into a glancing one, but all that does is turn the figure's evasive maneuver into a tumble that ends with them sprawled on their back. Their hood flops back, revealing their face. Ida Everstead-Rey is surrounded in short order by a half-dozen unfriendly people.
"Should've stayed in bed today, sweetheart," says a woman's voice. Ida grits her teeth, and opens her eyes--looming over her is a broad-shouldered lady in a suit and vest, twirling a baton between her fingers. "Your family's already lost big, you know. How much would they pay to get you back? Do you think they'd even do it?"
Ida looks up at her would-be kidnappers. One of them takes the opportunity to lash out with a foot, kicking her in the ribs. Her breath rushes from her lungs in a hiss, and she doubles over. Another grabs the young woman's wrists, and starts binding them with coils of rope.
"On your feet," says the woman in the suit-vest. She pulls a pocket watch from her vest, and glances at it as Ida struggles to stand. "Boss will be here in three..."
Ida rises. She looks straight ahead at the woman who threatened her, surprise and pain giving way to a dull throb of anger.
"Two... one..."
The Pier
A low, dull roar rises in the distance, increasing in volume with alarming speed. A bulky shape--vaguely humanoid, with a boxy look to it--crests the horizon. It shows no signs of slowing down, even as it breaches the city's airspace. The handful of people near the pier point and stare, but only for a second. Terror swiftly takes over. Most of them flee. The ones who remain...
Well, they're drawing ARMs of various stripes, so things just got more complicated. Miz Beauchamp has not exactly made herself scarce, but she does bolt from the Gear as it finishes its long, jet-assisted leap. She makes it behind a warehouse wall just as the Gear touches down. The impact is thunderous. Walls tremble. Stacks of crates topple over. Windows burst outwards in sprays of glass.
Now that it's right there, it's easy to see just what this machine is. It's not a stolen Aveh machine, and the make is wrong for a Kislevi one, even counting the fact most of them are oddballs. It holds some sort of cannon-like device--the barrel looks like it may be several solid long bones fused together, and then entwined with preserved metallic nerves. Several patches on the Gear look distinctly like Dragonscale, as well. The pilot says nothing. One hand reaches down to ever-so-gently pluck the cargo crate off the pier.
DC: Heal Berry switches forms to Smuggler Gear Graverobber! DC: Cassidy Cain switches forms to The Good Example! DC: Jude Moshe switches forms to Elymas!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
And as for young Olivia Carver?
The way she spreads her arm to one side to alert her would-be purchaser seems not the way of a lacking ingenue: "Take cover, and run inlands!"
The trap is sprung, and the Ebony Wings rise to meet the challenge. Behind the Gear, the surface of the water breaks as a spherical mound emerges, the light dusting of frost flush off Icedrake's wings, the mermaid-shaped Hyadean perched on her back. Overhead, the fiery spread of Salamandra's wings join with her icy brother, creating a perimeter to box the box-shaped Gear and cut the hopes of a clean and easy retreat.
Those that run in terror would find their path to safety strangely well-marked -- inside her carriage, Devet's spectacles reflect lines of code as she slams her finger onto the 'Enter' key. "Aaand active!"
With that input, Devet's hard light constructs create guiding lights and overlay the ground with platforms to prevent injury from broken glass and debris.
Riesenlied, on the other hand, has no illusions that the Gear would be accompanied by support, perhaps somewhere in the warehouses. But with at least two snipers at the ready -- Josephine and Jedan -- and many more Drifters with and about her, she can only hope they have sufficiently prepared for most contingencies.
She holds her glamoured hand to the air, the light of the Dragon's Tear nonetheless escaping beyond her disguise a border of light shields her surroundings. 'Merlin' and Noeline would find the shields to stick close to them, hopefully creating cover as they move into position against the massive target that stands before them.
Now all 'Olivia Carver' can really hope that this is the elusive target that everyone has been searching for...
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Noeline with Rising Heart - 'Seek the New World'! GS: Riesenlied has attacked Ambrosius with Rising Heart - 'Seek the New World'! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: Riesenlied heals Ambrosius! He gains 200 temporary hit points! GS: Riesenlied heals Noeline! She gains 200 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius turns immediately upon hearing the sound of that roar. He watches as that bulky form flies forward, into the city's airspace. He has an idea of where it heads...but even as it approaches, he doesn't flinch. Even when it lands from its leap, he doesn't flinch as a shockwave makes the buildings shake, knocks over crates, and shatters windows.
Debris flies toward him...but as he anticipated, a barrier soon erects itself before them, intercepting it before it can cause any harm. A shield forms around him as well, this one courtesy of Riesenlied. He nods toward her, and extends a hand. Water swirls and converges...before forming a protective barrier in front of her.
It's not as potent as hers is, but he's returning the favor. And then...his attention turns toward the Gear. He assesses it for a moment.
"A child's toy, forged of stolen corpses." He comments, breaking his long silence. He reaches into his bags, beginning to draw something out as he moves into combat position...and all the while, his gaze remains on the machine before him.
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Riesenlied with Aqua Barrier! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action. GS: Ambrosius heals Riesenlied! She gains 100 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
What just landed in the pier is not the only machine that has taken the field, for the moment it lands...
The new gear wouldn't look familiar, not to anyone present - most certainly not the generic Avehite machine that laid to waste Loren Voss' strange machine from several months back, having taken pains to disguise its silhouette. In the months since, it has been retrofitted with other augmentations that keep it distinct, especially with that new splash of color and everything about it that doesn't even appear remotely standard.
Colorful graffiti etches itself along its side, proudly proclaiming the machine as THE GOOD EXAMPLE.
And its pilot?
....probably the last person on Filgaia who could ever make that claim.
Maybe she thinks its a good disguise?
A large cannon unfolds from the back, dropping into its waiting hand, large metal feet slamming into the ground. A surprisingly agile twist has it turning by the waist, swinging the massive gun towards the front, and fires a single incendiary round that cuts across the darkness of the evening like a comet, bearing for the arm reaching down to pluck the precious cargo off sturdy, wooden slats.
Cassidy Cain has been adventuring in this dead and dying world for a little over ten years; a decade's worth of hard-won lessons. She is never above shooting first.
"You gotta work on your technique, luv," the tinny voice broadcasts from her speakers. "Nae much of a thief if bloody anyone can see you coming from a mile away. But I'm nae ruling out the idea that you're just that confident in your ability tae escape. And I do so love a challenge."
GS: Cassidy Cain has attacked Heal Berry with Once a Thief! GS: Cassidy Cain has completed her action. GS: Heal Berry critically Guards a hit from Cassidy Cain's Once a Thief for 39 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Riesenlied had only one request for the friendly archaeologist: keep an eye for anything strange out on the streets.
In one instant, she's checking over her rifle, giving it one last review before the festivities are likely to begin.
In the next instant, Josie lifts her head, just moments before the signal flare cracks off. She furrows her brow. Shifting her firearm to her right hand, Josie snaps her fingers.
Light, briefly, flares in her hand, a perfect shining sphere, easily visible to Jedan... but also unfortunately visible to anyone else watching the rooftops.
Josie crushes the glittering sphere moments later, destroying the spell. Them's the breaks for a warning, she supposes, before crawling flat for a new position, already assuming someone's seen.
There's an ominous bass roar from the horizon.
A Gear, Josie realizes.
'Fengalon's balls,' Josie mouths, up on the rooftop. She'd expected some horseshit from their targets -- nothing's ever simple -- but this was a little bit unfair, wasn't it?
Oh well. In for one gella coin, in for fifty.
Crouching low, she chances it, leaping for the next warehouse rooftop over.
Debris flies as the Gear touches down, still a distance from her current vantage point. Nevertheless, she lifts an arm to shield her face.
It's sure not a Gear she's familiar with. Not Aveh, not Kislev.
Not Solaris, either, or at least not like the one she saw. Still, it should have the usual weak points, where the armoring can't cover.
From her new perch, she levers herself up, squinting through the front sight.
Well, this is a shot in a million, she considers.
Then takes it anyway.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Heal Berry with Front Sight! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Dayton Derrida has posed.
Just as Day is tucking his notepad back into his coat, that thrumming sound rises out of the distance and draws ever, ominously more near. The blond man blinks and looks up, pushing his glasses up his nose. Most of the people on the pier are fleeing, of course.
Day doesn't. Planting the butt of his cane down, he leans forward with interest, his other hand coming to rest on the edge of a crate as he looks out over the water. The sight of the massive Gear surging out of the water leaves him moistening his lips with obvious interest.
"Well now," he murmurs. "You're an interesting little dead specimen walking, aren't you? Not quite from around here...."
Fishing his notebook out again, Day begins to scribble out a quick sketch of the arriving Gear - at least until something cold juts into the small of his back. He blinks a couple times.
Well, there's a familiar feeling, he sighs inwardly as she glances over his shoulder at the ruffian jamming an ARM into his back. "...You could've just asked me to leave," he remarks mildly.
Just as he begins to move, though, he pauses at the sight of another Gear touching down on the pier. His eyebrows come up sharply. "Well!" he remarks with a big, satisfied smile. "There she is! Perfect."
GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Front Sight for 56 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
"Oh, my," notes the slim girl who's remained at 'Olivia's side all the way through the Gear's abrupt appearance and entrance; her tone is light and teasing at the same time, her comment sounding like she's found a particularly interesting flower or a surprise birthday party rather than the war machine that crashes down in front of them in a show of force.
At the last moment, her hand flicks to the air - and out of nowhere appears an enormous slab of a sword easily as large as she is, what can only be called a block of white technological metal with a handle set into it a short way along its length. The socialite wields it in a way that should surely be impossible for a young woman of her size, spinning it once before she drives its flat end into the ground; the motion allows her to brace against the shock wave of the Gear's landing, placing herself between the Gear and those gathered around Riesenlied in a protective manner.
"And here I thought it would be the Madame herself," she comments idly to her partner as she closes her eyes, accepting the light of the Dragon's Tear as she closes her eyes; she lets out a breath for just a moment, then huffs up at the Gear above them, her brow knitting at the sight of the patchwork scales. "A private collector, I suppose. You could at least have come dressed for the occasion," she adds, the reproach in her voice suggesting the Gear simply needs a slap on the wrist.
Coincidentally, that's more or less what she gives it, driving forwards in a series of leaps towards the arm that reaches for the crate. She might be a lot smaller than the machine she clambers up, using its own foot and knee as a boost to gain more height - but she's smart and nimble enough to go straight for the joints, and the resounding impact as the downwards arc of her blade meets metal and scale indicates a very 'inhuman' sort of strength.
GS: Noeline has attacked Heal Berry with Drop Crush! GS: Noeline has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi has fought Gears before, but this one has her at two distinct disadvantages: the necessity of maintaining her human disguise and the distracting way it's pinging her kinsight. "Concentrate," she mutters to herself as she moves in for the attack, aiming for Graverobber's ankles or knees -- jabbing with her lance at whatever joints she can handily reach. It mustn't be allowed to steal the dragon skull!
GS: Malfi has attacked Heal Berry with Beyond The Impale! GS: Malfi has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
All at once everything explodes.
Morgan Newkirk sighs slowly, shaking his head as he smirks towards the rushing chaos. The roar of jets is a familiar sound, one that puts him in a good mood. It gets the blood flowing as he slowly gets up and shakes himself, as if waking from a fine nap.
He stands there, head tilted slightly back to look at the boxy thief with a smirk on his face. Dock workers and civilians scream and run, following the guide lights to the safe zone. But the Fox just keeps walking towards the edge of the pier.
"Brother," He drawls. "Did you ever make a bad business decision."
A crackle of static hits the com device in his ear. "Boss? Anything we should do?"
"Check up on the warehouse you two. Sharpe's got the long range covered."
He's reached the end of the pier by now and just grins and he doesn't even stop walking, one last step into thin air and he pitches over...
A Gear explodes from the water under him, top hatch popping open as the red painted machine of obvious Kislev origin bursts from the water. It snaps off the end of the pier as the humanoid shape rises. Boxy missile launcher mounted on one shoulder like a parrot as Morgan slams the power systems to full.
"Cut em some slack, darlin'." Booms the speakers of the Laughing Fox towards The Good Example. Its only decoration a cartoonish fox. Riding a missile. Head thrown back in a roaring laugher. "Not everyone has such refined technique."
The launcher on the Foxes shoulder screams, missiles spiraling towards the Boxy Gear in an arc as the warm machine raises from the water.
GS: Morgan Newkirk has attacked Heal Berry with Deadeye! GS: Morgan Newkirk has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE
Drive off the Graverobber BONUS OBJECTIVE
Reduce the Graverobber to 33% HP within 4 rounds
GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Malfi's Beyond The Impale for 99 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
Discretion is the better part of valor. Unfortunately, when you've got a ride as bulky as a heavily customized Kislev Gear, being discrete is harder than you might think.
As such, it takes a modicum of creativity to keep under cover until the very second that strange Gear makes landfall at the fringes of the pier. There is a soft droning sound of something charging up as it settles. It grows louder as the painfully ironically named Good Example all but -crashes- feet-first into the pier with the flash of burning incendiary.
And it reaches a crescendo just as Cassidy Cain's voice broadcasts helpfully over the lines of her Gear, booming out her cutting wit for all the world to hear.
"Frankly, I'm just glad I wasn't sitting here for nothing."
And it reaches its peak the very minute that second voice rings out as one of the larger cargo crates dotting the pier -bursts- open in a sparking screech of metal. From it emerges the bulky, tan-and-gray sight of the Elymas, the turtle-shelled Gear swerving across the rough swath of the pier grounds with a roar of wheels beneath its feet. It pivots widely, turning itself about --
--and as it does, it fires off a single round from a shoulder-mounted device, not for the invading Gear -- but for the other invading Gear. The Good one.
Debatably.
"Besides," Jude Moshe begins as that device latches onto the Good Example roughly where the core is located under all that armor. Not a second later, it will start to overclock the machine, to make it just -that- much more responsive to Cassidy's commands, "I wouldn't really critique her thieving technique until the day's done. You never know, right? Sometimes dumb luck is a factor." A hapless smile, a shrug of his shoulders. Jude Moshe leans back. "Just try to keep collateral damage to a minimum, huh?"
Slowly, he looks over to that wrecked crate. Silence passes heavily.
"... Starting now."
GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Cassidy Cain with Don't Think Twice! GS: Jude Moshe has completed his action. GS: Cassidy Cain takes a solid hit from Jude Moshe's Don't Think Twice for 0 hit points! GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Cassidy Cain! GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Noeline's Drop Crush for 68 hit points! GS: Heal Berry takes a solid hit from Morgan Newkirk's Deadeye for 93 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
The big, broad-shouldered Gear has an IFF tag all its own--just a simple name, but one that articulates its intended purpose very well:
Graverobber
Camera lenses on its rear arc track the disturbances caused by Nimue and Icedrake as they emerge from the sea. A second camera mount tracks Salamandra. The pilot does not seem terribly intimidated, if the Gear's body language is any indication. Instead, it immediately engages the hostile targets. Part of its shoulder armor irises open to reveal six barrels--something like the chambers of a revolver, except occupied by red-tipped warheads. As the Graverobber hauls in the crate with its right hand, a single rocket streaks down at the pier, trailing whitish smoke. "Olivia" and Ambrosius might want to move before it hits its target.
Unfortunately for the Graverobber, the Good Example is on the case. Cassidy opens fire, sending an incendiary round downrange. The Graverobber is already shifting into a defensive stance, swinging that massive cannon into holding locks on the side of the arm holding the crate; a loud shunk-shunk-shunk splits the air as plates deploy from its sturdy left forearm, folding into a shield. The round slams into the barrier. Fire blooms outwards. The Graverobber does not drop the crate--and its pilot speaks, for the first time.
"I thought that you, of all people, would appreciate a little style, Ms. Cain." The voice is female, possibly, but it's being scrambled as it's broadcast from the Gear's speakers. An autocannon on the Gear's right shoulder--probably some sort of jumped-up anti-personnel weapon--opens fire on the Good Example, casings flying as it chews through ammunition. Jude draws his share of fire as well from proximity, and also from doing Something Strange. Josie's shot slams into one of the moorings holding the cannon in place, causing it to judder erratically for a few, perilous moments. More lead goes flying in her direction! But at least she did some damage, right?
Malfi's spear slams into the side of the Gear's foot, near the ankle. The blade punches through the machine's armor, and when she tears it out, sparks fly outwards. She clearly got something with that attack, but unfortunately, she also put herself in a very bad position. That massive foot rears back, and tries to punt Malfi as though she were a soccer ball.
"Oh," the pilot continues, as Noeline begins that most Noeline of tactics: sass. "Was there a dress code for fossil theft? If anyone knows it, it has to be you. I've heard of you!" A hint of brightness shines through the garbling. Noeline's giant sword cleaves into the Graverobber's wrist, cutting through part of its armored wrist-guard. The very end catches something electronic, and sparks fly from the edge of Noeline's blade.
"I'd also heard you people were after this!" The Graverobber shakes its wrist violently, hopefully dislodging Noeline so it can grip that heavy cannon with both hands. Morgan's missile slams into its left shoulder a moment later, blasting chunks of armored plate loose. Metal shards fall to the dockside. The Graverobber turns a full ninety degrees with a sort of uncanny agility, raises the cannon, and takes aim at the Laughing Fox. A roaring torrent of fire issues forth from the gun's muzzle, with far more velocity and precision than a flamethrower ought to have.
It helps that the firing chamber is covered in Dragonbreath filaments, focused by the most careful containment mechanisms that Adam Everstead-Rey could devise.
MEANWHILE
Ida marches along in the center of her would-be kidnappers' little group. Her ribs ache. She can almost feel the bruise forming on her forehead. She is running on empty after running herself ragged for the past week--enduring things no human should ever have to endure. She barely has the strength to keep up with her captors, to stay in formation. She can hear the sounds of a Gear battle, and they are entirely too close.
"Boss's going to like this," says the woman with the baton.
Ida's heart shudders against her ribs. She clenches her teeth. Scenes of failure start to play out before her eyes. Scenes of helplessness.
"Grow up," says Riesenlied. A misshapen, draconic arm grips Ida's fist tightly, denying her the chance to even get a clean hit.
"If you think I will help you--if you think that I would give you your answer, even if I knew it... shows that you know nothing!" Siegfried looks down at her as she bleeds in the dirt, his all-too-human eyes alive with disgust.
"A game for a child," says a white-helmed, white-armored figure. "Who knows not her own limits.
Ida Everstead-Rey's home burns. Because she could not rise to the
NO
Ida's eyes snap open. A fresh wave of adrenaline surges through her body. Motes of chi wink into being around both her hands, and trail up her arms. Ida twists her wrists, gritting her teeth--
"What the--" says the woman in the lead.
In a single, violent motion, Ida snaps the ropes holding her and drives a balled-up fist into the woman's gut. She doubles over, coughing violently, her eyes going wide. One of the others draws an ARM, a six-shot revolver; Ida clocks him across the face, and the gun goes flying. She snatches it out of the air. Three shots, and the remaining three kidnappers are on the ground with leg wounds.
Ida knocks the bullets out of the gun, and pitches it into the distance in disgust.
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
The big, broad-shouldered Gear has an IFF tag all its own--just a simple name, but one that articulates its intended purpose very well:
Graverobber
Camera lenses on its rear arc track the disturbances caused by Nimue and Icedrake as they emerge from the sea. A second camera mount tracks Salamandra. The pilot does not seem terribly intimidated, if the Gear's body language is any indication. Instead, it immediately engages the hostile targets. Part of its shoulder armor irises open to reveal six barrels--something like the chambers of a revolver, except occupied by red-tipped warheads. As the Graverobber hauls in the crate with its right hand, a single rocket streaks down at the pier, trailing whitish smoke. "Olivia" and Ambrosius might want to move before it hits its target.
Unfortunately for the Graverobber, the Good Example is on the case. Cassidy opens fire, sending an incendiary round downrange. The Graverobber is already shifting into a defensive stance, swinging that massive cannon into holding locks on the side of the arm holding the crate; a loud shunk-shunk-shunk splits the air as plates deploy from its sturdy left forearm, folding into a shield. The round slams into the barrier. Fire blooms outwards. The Graverobber does not drop the crate--and its pilot speaks, for the first time.
"I thought that you, of all people, would appreciate a little style, Ms. Cain." The voice is female, possibly, but it's being scrambled as it's broadcast from the Gear's speakers. An autocannon on the Gear's right shoulder--probably some sort of jumped-up anti-personnel weapon--opens fire on the Good Example, casings flying as it chews through ammunition. Jude draws his share of fire as well from proximity, and also from doing Something Strange. Josie's shot slams into one of the moorings holding the cannon in place, causing it to judder erratically for a few, perilous moments. More lead goes flying in her direction! But at least she did some damage, right?
Malfi's spear slams into the side of the Gear's foot, near the ankle. The blade punches through the machine's armor, and when she tears it out, sparks fly outwards. She clearly got something with that attack, but unfortunately, she also put herself in a very bad position. That massive foot rears back, and tries to punt Malfi as though she were a soccer ball.
"Oh," the pilot continues, as Noeline begins that most Noeline of tactics: sass. "Was there a dress code for fossil theft? If anyone knows it, it has to be you. I've heard of you!" A hint of brightness shines through the garbling. Noeline's giant sword cleaves into the Graverobber's wrist, cutting through part of its armored wrist-guard. The very end catches something electronic, and sparks fly from the edge of Noeline's blade.
"I'd also heard you people were after this!" The Graverobber shakes its wrist violently, hopefully dislodging Noeline so it can grip that heavy cannon with both hands. Morgan's missile slams into its left shoulder a moment later, blasting chunks of armored plate loose. Metal shards fall to the dockside. The Graverobber turns a full ninety degrees with a sort of uncanny agility, raises the cannon, and takes aim at the Laughing Fox. A roaring torrent of fire issues forth from the gun's muzzle, with far more velocity and precision than a flamethrower ought to have.
It helps that the firing chamber is covered in Dragonbreath filaments, focused by the most careful containment mechanisms that Adam Everstead-Rey could devise.
MEANWHILE
Ida marches along in the center of her would-be kidnappers' little group. Her ribs ache. She can almost feel the bruise forming on her forehead. She is running on empty after running herself ragged for the past week--enduring things no human should ever have to endure. She barely has the strength to keep up with her captors, to stay in formation. She can hear the sounds of a Gear battle, and they are entirely too close.
"Boss's going to like this," says the woman with the baton.
Ida's heart shudders against her ribs. She clenches her teeth. Scenes of failure start to play out before her eyes. Scenes of helplessness.
"Grow up," says Riesenlied. A misshapen, draconic arm grips Ida's fist tightly, denying her the chance to even get a clean hit.
"If you think I will help you--if you think that I would give you your answer, even if I knew it... shows that you know nothing!" Siegfried looks down at her as she bleeds in the dirt, his all-too-human eyes alive with disgust.
"A game for a child," says a white-helmed, white-armored figure. "Who knows not her own limits.
Ida Everstead-Rey's home burns. Because she could not rise to the
NO
Ida's eyes snap open. A fresh wave of adrenaline surges through her body. Motes of chi wink into being around both her hands, and trail up her arms. Ida twists her wrists, gritting her teeth--
"What the--" says the woman in the lead.
In a single, violent motion, Ida snaps the ropes holding her and drives a balled-up fist into the woman's gut. She doubles over, coughing violently, her eyes going wide. One of the others draws an ARM, a six-shot revolver; Ida clocks him across the face, and the gun goes flying. She snatches it out of the air. Three shots, and the remaining three kidnappers are on the ground with leg wounds.
Ida knocks the bullets out of the gun, and pitches it into the distance in disgust.
GS: Heal Berry has attacked Riesenlied with Dumbfire Rocket! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Ambrosius with Dumbfire Rocket! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Cassidy Cain with 11mm Autocannon! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Josephine Lovelace with 11mm Autocannon! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Jude Moshe with 11mm Autocannon! GS: Riesenlied takes a glancing hit from Heal Berry's Dumbfire Rocket for 70 hit points! GS: Ambrosius guards a hit from Heal Berry's Dumbfire Rocket for 103 hit points! GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Heal Berry's 11mm Autocannon for 68 hit points! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Malfi with Disproportionate Violence! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Noeline with Disproportionate Violence! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Morgan Newkirk with Three-Dragon Cannon - Flame Breath! GS: Heal Berry has completed its action. GS: Jude Moshe takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's 11mm Autocannon for 220 hit points! GS: Malfi takes a glancing hit from Heal Berry's Disproportionate Violence for 50 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Things get much more complicated in a hurry.
The Graverobber attempts to seize the crate with its open hand, and there isn't much that 'Olivia' can do at this point to stop it -- but even before the frost and flame dragons have much of a chance to react, The Good Example crashes down alongside the Graverobber, a model Riesenlied has not seen before...
... but the tension bleeds out from her lightly as she sees that the Gear is assaulting the Graverobber. Not necessarily an ally, but -- a third party, perhaps? There is a frown from the Ebony Wings' commander as she accepts Ambrosius' protection, letting the water cascade around her gently. It's just enough, as the white-trailed rocket flies and crashes against the pier, nearly sending her off her feet. She coughs, but is gone the moment the smoke clears -- she's gone further inland.
"Josie's given the warning, Olivia," Jedan grouses over the Wings' shared comms. Which probably includes Josephine, if she wishes, at this point! "Watch yourself, but we'll keep you clear."
A second Gear lands, the Elymas -- once more, she's not certain what it is, but the turtle-shelled motif reminds her of the Golem Diablo. She can only hope it doesn't have near the destructive power... and a third one too -- out from the pier. The Laughing Fox.
They seem to all be working together... thinks Riese to herself, as she hears some of the conversation from the boom speakers.
Josephine, Noeline and Ambrosius would then hear:
"Ebon One here -- I'm switching to armor-breaching rounds. Focus on the breach!"
A loud 'POP' snaps from the warehouse rooftop as the Hyadean sniper launches a fanged bullet -- which, if it finds its mark past the Dragonscale, will balloon outwards and explosively dislodge armour to help expose inner joints and other sensitive hydraulics.
She stops cold as she rounds the corner -- and spots a man being held up by a ruffian with a gunsmoke ARM pointed to his back. There's a sharp frown, and she expresses sharply with a glow at her palm, "Leave. Now."
The ruffian struggles for a moment... and he limply turns around with a sleepy expression and marches, dropping the gunsmoke ARM onto the ground in a clatter. 'Olivia' quickly kicks it away.
"Are you all right, sir? It isn't be safe here -- you should evacuate."
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Heal Berry with Rising Heart - 'Wave-Particle Duality'! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
DC: MISS! Cassidy Cain completely evades 11mm Autocannon from Heal Berry!
GS: Morgan Newkirk takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Three-Dragon Cannon - Flame Breath for 306 hit points! GS: ! Statuses applied to Morgan Newkirk!
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Lucky break, Malfi thinks as Graverobber's kick only glances off of her. She withdraws quickly before it can strike again. Unfortunately, though, she has few distance attacks. One, though, that might be effective against its ARMS...
GS: Malfi has attacked Heal Berry with Dead Reckoning! GS: Malfi has completed her action. GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Disproportionate Violence for 101 hit points! GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Riesenlied's Rising Heart - 'Wave-Particle Duality' for 0 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak! Statuses applied to Heal Berry!
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
Cut 'em some slack, darlin'.
"Nae," Cassidy replies, cheerfully. "Dinnae ken about you, luv, but I'm nae in the business of going easy on competitors."
The Good Example reloads, and when a third voice joins the fray, green lenses turn towards that direction as a large crate explodes, reducing chunks of flying metal to quills, flying off into the distance and skewering other constructs dotting the Pier. The shot fired at her by her partner would, on a normal day, ellicit a dramatic response - Et tu, Jude? followed with a clutching of metal fingers, staggering sideways before collapsing, the very picture of a sudden but inevitable betrayal. However, it's a job, and she seems to know what it is, because she is doing absolutely nothing to evade it.
The device slams into her machine, a foot bracing backwards to absorb the impact, the click-click-click-CLANG of its clamps and circuits fastening around her core and leaving it to feed into her system. Diagnostic equipment flares to life, monitors scrolling quick lines of data - gibberish that she actually understands, for all of her attempts to pretend otherwise. The round's overdrive effect suffuses through its frame, rocketing into fuel lines and wires left in impeccable condition by one Dayton Derrida - whose presence is actually on the field, outside of her knowledge, but hey, at least if the worst happens...
A satisfied smile, laden with glee and reckless intent, tugs on the corner of her mouth. "Have I told you today how thoroughly you complete me?" she wonders at the Elymas. "Nae promises on the collateral damage, but I think it bears saying that as far as that goes, you definitely started it. So if I blow sommat up that I dinnae mean tae..."
The Good Example bends its knees, and rockets forward in a burst of speed - an already incredibly fast machine, Jude's overclock device makes it even more so.
The Graverobber turns to address her, but that's almost a mistake, she is closing the distance, taking a zig-zagging path. She isn't fast enough to intercept the fire aiming for Jude, but her interception course is unmistakable, to cut directly in between the Graverobber and her partner to give the Elymas the time it needs to recover.
"Methinks you and I've got entirely different definitions for style," she says--
-- while still advancing.
The Good Example's shoulder lowers, to smash directly into the blocky gear, its outer leg slamming down to hook into the thing's ankle in the midst of its full-bore, forward charge. Using both weight and momentum, she attempts to have the unwieldy Gear tilt backwards and in the doing...
Drops the cannon back on her hands, to swing it out like a bat - a Gear's version of pistolwhipping the Graverobber across the face in a twist that makes the cycling barrel spin around in its axis...
...and leaves it turning the firing end very close to its face.
"Peekaboo."
She pulls the trigger.
GS: Cassidy Cain has attacked Heal Berry with Baby Driver! GS: Cassidy Cain has completed her action. GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Malfi's Dead Reckoning for 80 hit points! GS: Jam! Statuses applied to Heal Berry!
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius observes as more Gears join the fray. From behind the helmet his eyes narrow...but, surprisingly, they appear to be assaulting his target. An interesting development, but not an unwelcome one.
A missile streaks toward his location and Ambrosius moves to leap out of the way. It strikes the pier and explodes, engulfing him and his surroundings...
And when the smoke clears, Ambrosius is still standing. The barrier Riesenlied put around him crackles, having taken heavy damage but still offering its protection even after that. And in his hands is a peculiar weapon - an ARM of sleek red steel with silver linings, resembling a rifle in form. It's not a weapon any of his allies would be familiar with.
"Understood." Ambrosius responds to the voice over his communications. He begins to move again, trying to get to a more advantageous position, but as he does so he takes aim at the Gear and the breach that would hopefully be provided. His ARM fires off a bolt of green light, crackling with energy and powerful enough to damage even a Gear.
"It has been far too long...Veritas Varia..." He murmurs, entirely to himself.
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Heal Berry with VV-VIS! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Dayton Derrida has posed.
"They're always sassy," Dayton sighs as he endures the feeling of an ARM barrel stuffed into the small of his back. "Though I'm not sure I'd trust anyone in a sass-off with that one." Here, his eyes dart towards the Good Example, a lopsided smile tugging at his lips.
The ruffian digs the pistol into his back more urgently. With a roll of his eyes, Dayton begins to turn a little. "Alright, alright. You don't have to shove quite so insistently."
As if taking his word for it, the thug... suddenly turns and strolls away. He even leaves his ARM behind.
A very nonplussed Dayton scratches his cheek. "Huh. I see my powers of persuasion have improved," he deadpans, before 'Olivia' of all people dashes up and suggests he book it.
Something twinges in the back of his mind but he can't quite figure it out. "I suppose that might be for the best," he concedes as he reaches into his coat and comes up with something.
It's a gunsmoke ARM - a revolver. In fact it's an Everstead-Rey Model 3 from about ten years ago, though it's got a fancy-looking ivory grip on it. It probably won't do much good against a Gear. "But thank you. Say, you're that Riesenlied, aren't you? Try not to get yourself killed."
With a tap of his cane against the dock, Dayton plots a course away from Riese about as quick as he can manage with one bad knee - though he's not quite escaping yet. He's moving to a safer vantage point - one where he can hunker down away from the thugs while still getting a good view of the battle. Pushing his glasses up, he keeps one hand around his pistol, watching intently to follow the Good Example with his eyes.
Day's eyes flicker intently. "I'm not sure who's running more smoothly right now, the machine or Cassidy," he murmurs with quiet appreciation, checking to make sure his tool kit is with him.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Make that a trio of Gears.
And wouldn't you know, a trio of familiar voices at that.
Some of them have really been holding out on her, Josie thinks.
Some people just get all the fun toys.
The comm comes alive in her ear. Good, they came prepared for horseshit.
The shot clips a vulnerable point in the Graverobber's armor, just for it to retaliate in kind.
Well, 'in kind' is a little bit understating it, she considers, leaping from the rooftop as the warehouse is rendered into flying shrapnel around and below her. For a moment, Josie floats in the air, silhouetted against the destruction.
Then lands in a hard roll, quickly pulling herself to her feet.
So much for the rooftop advantage. But on the other hand, it's better than being a fine red mist right now. That was a little too close, perhaps.
Cooler heads might think the better of the situation and cut their losses at this point.
Josie has... never been good at thinking cool-headedly.
Only spontaneously.
Ducking across the roadway towards the far warehouse, she sprints the distance for the ladder up to the rooftop, ascending as quickly as she's able one-handedly, the rifle held awkwardly (painfully) in her right.
Flattening herself against the rooftop, she keeps her profile as low as she can as she digs a hand into her pocket and palms a few of the 'special' rounds.
The other, other special rounds.
She smiles thinly.
What she wouldn't give for tank-class ARM, she thinks wistfully, crawling low across the rooftop to bring the mysterious Gear into her sights once again.
Where's your weakspot...
There?
She pulls the trigger.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Heal Berry with Bitter Pill! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Cassidy Cain's Baby Driver for 169 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
Have I told you today how thoroughly you complete me?
"I don't think so, but I'd settle for not driving up my debts with property damage. Do as I say, not as I do, Cassie. I'm pretty sure I remember that verse from the Nissan Holy Text."
And Jude Moshe, of course, would know.
"Only having a little style isn't going to get you that much mileage in life, much less appreciation," Jude asides to the Graverobber's pilot amiably, in that conversational way of his, as the Elymas settles in. Metal plates at its back groan and hiss with hydraulic life. Optics light up with a dim glow in the outside lamplight.
"But, well." Autocannon turns. Targets.
"Unfortunately, style's just one of those things you have or you don't. At least you're trying, right?"
And autocannons spit fire.
"Oops."
But despite that whistled grimace, the erstwhile reporter is smiling within the cockpit of his Gear as weapons fire turns upon him. In response? He -jams- on the acceleration of the Elymas. If the Graverobber is trying to keep them at bay, well. Jude's first response is to close that distance, artillery jamming and ricocheting off metal plating, tearing a shallow chunk off of its chest as it draws one hand backwards. The piston within the Elymas' arm shunts backwards, generating pressure...
... and then it seeks to -drive- that hand, palm-first, into the midsection of the unusually designed Gear, venting all that pressure into one pent-up blow, exerting much more force than such a punch might normally.
And within the cockpit of the modified Kislevi Gear, Jude Moshe furrows his brows faintly, skimming visual data on the Graverobber in an attempt to match it with any known Gear designs.
"What a pain in the ass," he grouses to himself, good-naturedly, even if his smile never quite reaches his eyes.
GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Heal Berry with Desolation Row! GS: Jude Moshe has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
For just a moment, Noeline's eyes flick downwards - she can feel more than hear Riesenlied's command, and has to check for a moment who exactly it's directed towards, and whether Riese is about to get herself into serious trouble over it. It only takes a glance to reassure the demon spy that she's quite alright where she is, though - and Noeline does have bigger problems, gritting her teeth as her blade fails to cut cleanly through and instead catches on something within the Gear's internals.
"--please," she huffs back at the loudspeaker'd voice, favoring the pilot with a cocky sort of grin. "You're supposed to take it at the auction. This is cheating, if you ask--kh--" her grin does survive, though it's tinged with effort and pain as she does her best to hang on. It's fruitless; she winces as the whiplash briefly hits her, then feels her blade shift underneath her, a warning that like it or not, she's coming loose.
At least she's prepared for the motion, wrenching her blade out of the wound she's created just in time to push with her feet, letting the next shake of the Gear's wrist send her flying away in a vaguely controlled descent back to the ground. It turns out that was just in time; there's a hot flash as she feels the heat of a Gear's flamethrower and then an abrupt explosion, covering her face as Cassidy Cain does the only sensible thing and rams the barrel right into her opponent.
She lands heavily - sort of. In any other situation it would be an excellent landing, dropping down almost to one knee as she skids to a stop, but she's still feeling the burn and ache of accessing too much of a Guardian's power; she stumbles instead, and is forced into a diving roll before she's able to pull herself back up to her feet.
Still, she is up, and her blade is in both hands as she suddenly pulls it up and around her. The flicker of light along its edge - if you can call so rough and solid a thing an 'edge' - looks almost picturesque as she lifts the weapon, and then she's grit her teeth with effort as she wrenches the oversize sword around her and carves it diagonally upwards into the air. This time, the light catches in the air, describing another crescent arc that rockets forwards to tear against the Gear's armor, aimed this time at its knee joint - apparently seeking to cripple parts of the machine.
Guess Demons do know Air Slash. Noeline probably calls it something ridiculous, though.
GS: Noeline has attacked Heal Berry with Tricolor Order! GS: Noeline has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
"Competitors now is it?" Calls Morgan with a laugh. "And here I thought you had gone legal. Now you're all dissipointing me." The teasing banter comes easily as he moves his Gear forward and...
"...well...that's a big gun."
At point blank range.
The Laughing Fox twists to bring its right arm up to block. It being half-submerged there isn't an easy dodge he can try. Flame and smoke engulf his Gear, ecliping him from view.
What isn't eclipsed is the arm of his Gear flying out of that flameing malestorm to smash into the buildings behind him.
What was that about property damage Jude? I mean its proboly fine.
As the smoke clears though the Laughing Fox still stands, scorched and pitted and missing the arm and most of the right side shattered. "Emma just helped me fix this damn thing...ah well. Least I'll get ta take her ta dinner again ta say thank ya."
Then he's moving again, off to the side to clear lines of fire as he reroutes power from his right side into his remaining systems. The Laughing Fox is hurt, but its not out of the fight yet.
GS: Morgan Newkirk has attacked Morgan Newkirk with Not Done Yet! GS: Morgan Newkirk takes 14 damage from Corrode! GS: Morgan Newkirk has completed his action. GS: Morgan Newkirk heals Morgan Newkirk! He gains 400 temporary hit points! GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Jude Moshe's Desolation Row for 153 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Heal Berry guards a hit from Noeline's Tricolor Order for 148 hit points! GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Bitter Pill for 72 hit points! GS: Poison! Statuses applied to Heal Berry! GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Ambrosius's VV-VIS for 157 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
Jedan's shot strikes home, punching into the hole that Morga just opened in the Graverobber's shoulder. The bullet doesn't seem to do much to the machine's innards, but it does pop more of its armor loose. Plates clatter to the ground, and fall into the sea. Its dual front-mount cameras scan the buildings, triangulating the shot--and when it finds the warehouse that Jedan is perched on, it lets loose with another torrent from that massive cannon. This time, though, it's not fire--it's a bolt of lightning that streaks towards the target, the lightning rod on top of the warehouse. Jedan, incidentally, is in the way. The cannon swivels a moment later, sending another bolt of lightning towards the Laughing Fox, in the distance. Morgan's Gear is a much bigger, more convenient target.
Malfi's attack does something to this thing's targeting systems, judging by the way it immediately stops firing for a few precious seconds. This may be no comfort at all to her, as the Gear swings the cannon down and lets loose with a blast of Dragonfire at the pesky thing dancing around at its feet. This costs time, of course, and puts the Graverobber in a bad position when Cassidy comes zooming in.
The Graverobber is significantly bigger than the Good Example, but it's caught off-guard, battered about the head and body and then shot several times for good measure. More of its copious armor plating falls into the sea. Its right hand still has the crate with the fossil in a deathgrip, but it can't keep it and fend off Cassidy. The Gear lets go. The crate falls into the sea with a splash, and it would cause a minor tidal wave if the Good Example and the Graverobber weren't already churning up the water. As it struggles, Ambrosius and Josephine pelt it with small-arms fire that is far more effective than it has any right to be. Josie's attack takes out something that might be a power relay, causing sparks to belch out of the Graverobber's thigh. Ambrosius's shot melts a head-sized hole in part of the missile launcher's housing. Veruni technology!
Jude makes things worse a moment later. His hand slams into the Graverobber's midsection, causing convex armor to become concave. The machine shudders, braces, and pushes back. The jump-jets on its back and legs--mighty ones, ones that are more than capable of hauling it around--flare to life. It tries to bull-rush Jude and Cassidy backwards, into one of the empty warehouses near the pier. It disengages the jets partway through. Eventually, though, the Graverobber manages to shove Cassidy back--towards one of the empty warehouses near the pier.
Noeline's slash hits the Graverobber while it's recovering, cleaving into a thruster housing and silencing the thruster inside. "I have to say, this is a bigger challenge than I was expecting," says the Gear's pilot. "I like it." The cannon swings into its hands again. A visible ray of blue-white energy traces a path across the rooftop where Josie's hiding, relenting only just long enough to target Josephine, Ambrosius, and Noeline. Even being clipped by it is enough to cause severe frostbite, to say nothing of what a direct hit would do.
GS: Heal Berry has attacked Riesenlied with Three-Dragon Cannon - Voltaic Breath! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Morgan Newkirk with Three-Dragon Cannon - Voltaic Breath! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Malfi with Three-Dragon Cannon - Flame Breath! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Three-Dragon Cannon - Rime Breath! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Ambrosius with Three-Dragon Cannon - Rime Breath! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Noeline with Three-Dragon Cannon - Rime Breath! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Cassidy Cain with Violent Shove! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Jude Moshe with Violent Shove! GS: Heal Berry takes 8 damage from Poison! GS: Heal Berry has completed its action. GS: Malfi takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Three-Dragon Cannon - Flame Breath for 135 hit points! GS: Poison! Statuses applied to Malfi! GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Three-Dragon Cannon - Voltaic Breath for 175 hit points! GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Three-Dragon Cannon - Rime Breath for 51 hit points! GS: Slow! Statuses applied to Noeline! GS: Ambrosius guards a hit from Heal Berry's Three-Dragon Cannon - Rime Breath for 49 hit points! GS: Slow! Statuses applied to Ambrosius! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Heal Berry's attack becomes clear! GS: Jude Moshe guards a hit from Heal Berry's Surprise Care Package for 186 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Jude Moshe!
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
Jude may discover a special surprise as his Gear impacts the warehouse.
The special surprise is three Gear-sized proximity mines, attached to the roof, which chirp cheerfully before exploding. Cassidy may get to share in the surprise, too!
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
Malfi yelps as the Dragonfire engulfs her. She ducks and rolls, using her cape as a blanket to smother the flames. And comes up fighting! -- though not without significant delay...
Then she retreats to what she hopes is out of flaming range. Can't keep pressing my luck this way!
GS: Malfi has attacked Heal Berry with Beyond The Impale! GS: Malfi takes 5 damage from Poison! GS: Malfi has completed her action.
DC: MISS! Cassidy Cain completely evades Surprise Care Package from Heal Berry!
GS: Morgan Newkirk guards a hit from Heal Berry's Three-Dragon Cannon - Voltaic Breath for 202 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Heal Berry's Three-Dragon Cannon - Rime Breath for 48 hit points! GS: Slow! Statuses applied to Josephine Lovelace! GS: CRITICAL! Heal Berry guards a hit from Malfi's Beyond The Impale for 144 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Heal Berry!
DC: 1 turn has elapsed in the battle against Heal Berry! -1 turns remain! DC: 2 turns have elapsed in the battle against Heal Berry! -2 turns remain!
<Pose Tracker> Dayton Derrida has posed.
The intensity of the battle churns up waves; they slam against the edge of the pier, lapping around Dayton's ankles. He bites down to the point of his tongue, exhaling through his nose as he watches the Gear launch itself at Cassidy's Gear.
And attempt to shove the Good Example into a warehouse not far from him. Widening his eyes, he ducks to one side, into the shelter of the box he's hunkering down beside. It helps him to not die, anyway.
That's about when the proximity mines explode within the warehouse. Things rattle menacingly. Fire and flames belch past Dayton; he sucks in a breath and shields himself with one arm, clenching his teeth. Unpleasant thoughts bubble up but he shoves them aside. "I have a feeling I'm going to have to issue her an itemized receipt," he grumbles. "Damn it all, I must be some kind of fool...."
Shielding himself with one arm and shaking his leg out in the hopes of getting just enough motion back in his knee to do what he needs to do, Day rolls out from behind the crate - and he bolts his way forward. He moves surprisingly fast for someone with one bad leg, mostly by using the cane to launch himself as though he's taking a series of short jumps that land him on the leg that still bends. The rest of him seems pretty athletic, if not in drifting shape.
It's enough that, by the time the Good Example passes near the warehouse, the pilot will hear a voice shouting up to her. "Miss Cain! Down here!"
Breathing a bit heavily as he emerges from the wreckage, Dayton grabs ahold of a coil of rope and swings it; the loop of it sails upwards to catch a protrusion on the Good Example's back. Quickly Day manages to clamber upwards until he can reach a reasonably safe outcropping. He's holstered his gun; instead he's going for his toolkit and opening a hatch somewhere on the Gear's person.
"I have to give you credit for keeping the paint job pristine!" he shouts over the noise of battle as he begins fussing with various wires and power lines. "That said, I'd consider your next maintenance cycle free if I don't get squished while I'm setting this up--"
Something flickers inside the Gear. On Cassidy's board, a couple of gauges suddenly spike into the green. Whatever Dayton did, her Gear's suddenly running more efficiently.
GS: Dayton Derrida has attacked Cassidy Cain with Spare Clip! GS: Dayton Derrida has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
It is a little brought-up fact, but Jedan is the oldest of the Ebony Wings by a significant margin -- in fact, part of the story of how he became Tainted is a tale he scarce remembers that the elders describe as 'a visitation of Diabolos', with scarce little more detail of the apocryphal tale than that.
Thus, it's with a grin that he watches lightning explode against his warehouse, and the heavyset Hyadean goes sailing across as something approximating jumping springs on his legs prop him towards another rooftop.
There's a creeeeeeak.
"Whew," he groans, after a moment's worry.
Then he explodes through the rafters, causing a couple to shriek as he lands on their bathtub. "Hello," is his haplessly awkward response.
Where Jedan's incapable of following up, however, Dva and Icedrake are more than up to the task to compensate; there's a hiss as the newly-returned Demon rears back with the Brionac spear ARM to go, "Why can't our Dragons be as huge as these Drifters' Gears?! Geez... talk about getting the leftovers--"
Icedrake whines in offense.
"Yeah yeah, I get it! Go! Deepwyrm Lash!!"
With a grunted exertion of effort, she heaves the spear in the direction of that gaping maw in the Graverobber's shoulder -- and Icedrake follows suit, blasting a ray of frost to join its Mistress' spear. The Graverobber isn't the only one who can play with ice, it would seem!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Heal Berry with Rising Sword - 'Illusory Dominance'! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: Cassidy Cain takes a solid hit from Dayton Derrida's Spare Clip for 0 hit points! GS: Reload! Cassidy Cain gains 15 extra FP from Dayton Derrida! GS: Heal Berry critically Guards a hit from Riesenlied's Rising Sword - 'Illusory Dominance' for 64 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
The advantage of Noeline's rather unconventional long-range fighting style is that she can see the attacks come; she looses her glittering wave of force and whirls with the momentum of it, before dragging her sword around in a roundabout sweep that scores a line in the stone she's standing on. She has just enough time to set it in place as a buttress before the icy breath is upon her.
It stings in a way that's hard to describe for anyone else; Metal Demons don't have a great deal to fear from frostbite, but that means she can sense the wave of cold reverberate over her, grimacing at the feel of it as she feels the metal that makes her up contract from the sudden cold. It's not about to tear her apart or anything - but for a moment, it feels like it might.
So she's quick to sweep the rest of the ice around her away with the flat of her blade, whirling around in a horizontal spin before she tears another of those rolling waves of force away towards the same joint; she's not about to be able to fight toe-to-toe with this thing, but at least she can hope to seriously inconvenience it.
GS: Noeline has attacked Heal Berry with Tricolor Order! GS: Noeline has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Sparks, always the sign she wants to see.
Light traces over the rooftop soon after. Perhaps... not the sign she wants to see.
Josie leaps, arcing over the beam.
But not high enough. Too late, she realizes she hadn't jumped early enough. A bone-deep chill spreads cruelly up one leg, radiating upwards.
When she lands amidst some of the shipping crates in the alley below, it's rather awkwardly, shards of wood cast up in her wake. Shaking out her still chilled leg, Josie books it into the shadows, her pace markedly slow. Damn, damn, this is going to be a problem.
"Say, Sunshine. Just a little heads-up, if you will?"
She drawls this into the comm line as she limps around a corner, trying to find the best upward angle at the enemy Gear.
"I have to say, this is getting a little too close for my taste. I don't suppose you've got some super weapon you've hidden up your sleeve?"
"I want to see them hurt, but I don't want to die here either. Got it?"
A lopsided smile to herself alone, Josie finally finds that one good angle she was searching for.
There's the sparks, still kicking out of the hole she made before. Now, here's hoping for a little bit of luck.
She closes one eye, lining up the shot as cleanly--
--and quickly--
--as she can.
"Got you."
The bullet is loosed, speeding off through the air.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Heal Berry with Kick the Bucket! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Ambrosius is satisfied with his contribution, but it seems as if this Gear took offense to it. It responds with a burst of freezing breath. Ambrosius takes a hand off his weapon and extends it outward. It is not water he focuses on this time. He seeks to divert the chilling spray before it can reach him, to push it safely away.
The power of that cannon is still something to be considered, however. He is only partially successful, just enough to prevent himself from being frozen to the spot. His body armor protects him from the worst of it, but the ice sticking to him, not to mention the intense chill, will be enough to slow his movements.
Problematic, but he would have to deal with it all the same.
He starts to move again, firing off another basic shot from Veritas Varia as he tries to move for a more optimal location on higher ground. For what he had in mind, he would need to be positioned just right...
GS: Ambrosius has attacked Heal Berry with VV-VIS! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
Things happen in relatively swift order. That blow lands -- as cleanly as Jude could have hoped, really -- and with the crunch of metal, the Elymas is already redirecting propulsion to begin gaining ground. Cumbersome as it is, it is far from the most maneuverable of machines, and the reporter-slash-sellsword-slash-louse knows for a fact that retribution is going to be coming in relatively short order, from this close up.
And so it does come, in the deceptively simple form of that bullrush. Jude doesn't bother checking the Good Example's way; fast as it is, especially under the helpful effects of that overcharge, he knows Cassidy is going to be fine. Instead, he focuses on the safety of his own Gear. Too large -- too unwieldy, really -- to safely maneuver itself out of the way, the redheaded journalist at the very least manages to react in time to interpose mechanical arms between the Graverobber and the Elymas' main body.
And that, perhaps, makes all the world of difference when Jude notices the explosives lining his Gear's forearm guards.
"Wonderful"BOOM
Fireballs billow around the Elymas, metal plates shearing off through heat and kinetic force, winds whipping across armor as those forearms spark and drip molten alloy. The Elymas -cracks- its back into the side of that warehouse, plowing through in an explosion of brick and dust. Debris crumbles from the fresh hole as the Gear pries itself out a moment later, and Jude takes stock -- of that, and the conflagrations Morgan is helpfully creating.
"Well," he decides, after a long moment.
"I'm not taking responsibility for any of this."
But how is that new, really?
Seconds later, the Elymas is on the tear, building up momentum on its path back to the Graverobber. Friction churns stone and smoke beneath its heels as it starts to crouch down halfway through its tear. And when it's close enough?
There is a gush of steam and a hydraulic hiss as one of those heavy metal plates lining the Elymas' back LAUNCHES off of it, aimed for a sudden, high-speed collision course for the Graverobber's face at impressive velocities.
GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Heal Berry with Catch the Wind! GS: Jude Moshe has completed his action. GS: Heal Berry critically Guards a hit from Noeline's Tricolor Order for 38 hit points! GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Josephine Lovelace's Kick the Bucket for 54 hit points! GS: Heal Berry takes a solid hit from Jude Moshe's Catch the Wind for 150 hit points! GS: Heal Berry takes a solid hit from Ambrosius's VV-VIS for 268 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
The Laughing Fox is a bigger target, but that just means there is more of it to love. By love in this case we mean get it set on fire. Power bleeds off several of his systems as even more things start to turn red on his gage.
The fox in the cockpit just growls slightly. "Well least I'm soakin' up bullets." He mutters to himself as he takes count of what weapons systems he's got left.
"Boss," Sharpe's voice comes over his com, the rabbit's drawl sounding somewhat amused. "Ya seem to be on fire..."
"Thanks! I noticed!" Replies the fox as he plants the Gears foot and pivots, as he does so the autocannon mounted on the back of his left arm roars. Ejected shell casings cascade into the water, kicking up steam around the feet of the old battler gear as the rounds stitch their way towards the weaking (hopefully) weakening sections of the thief's machine.
"Well," The speakers angled that familiar drawl towards Jude and Cass. "Considerin' who you usually hang out with. Its almost always her fault not yours, right?"
The fox is already swinging his gear around, trying to get to the flank of the massive thief. "Anyone know who is actually pilotin' that beast?" He asks as he slams his fist into the side of his targeting systems, since they seem to be slightly on fire. Like...almost everything else on his Gear.
GS: Morgan Newkirk has attacked Heal Berry with Deadeye! GS: Morgan Newkirk takes 14 damage from Corrode! GS: Morgan Newkirk has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
She makes enough of a nuisance of herself that two things happen at once - the Gear is forced to engage her, and the crate drops into the ocean, bobbing at the churning their big, metallic bodies are generating together. Cassidy doesn't waste any time; with a wide, wild smile, she pushes her advantage, driving her controls forward before activity registers in her periphery, and she suddenly twists away to give room for Jude to strike. The Elymas surges past her just as she angles her gear's body away from his, to dip metallic fingers into the water and pull the crate out from underneath the depths. The loud crunch rattles her senses when he makes impact somewhere over her shoulder.
But for a large, blocky thing, it can certainly move.
With the crate cradled on one arm, she whips around in a haze of red suddenly overtaking her cockpit - proximity alarms and notice of a fast moving object...
She evades. She somehow does, an incomprehensible cry of warning shouted to her partner only for his larger gear to get shoved into a trap waiting for him on the other side of the pier. The roof explodes in a roaring ball of fire, just in time for another barrage to hit Morgan, and watching him fall back. She has absolutely no idea of the state of the both of them and lashes lid dangerous from where she sits, her rapidly beating heart slowing as black fury pours into open veins, pools into all of her extremities like a fast acting poison.
Miss Cain! Down here!
Green lenses tilt down towards her mechanic and the intensity of her surprise nearly banishes the black cloud. Nearly. Almost.
"....Day?"
There's a rope, and she helps him along, metallic fingers scooping him up and guiding him to the maintenance hatch - practically his home within the last few months. She doesn't question it - the efficiency of his handiwork is something she has come to expect, and screens light up once more.
"I'd ask you what you're bloody doing here, luv, but you can regale me, later. Just get away from here as fast as you can, ay?" Once the hatch is closed, she'll lower him back down...the modifications are quick, but it seems it took him just enough time for this to happen while Jude and Morgan are rallying. The relief she feels? Does not help the growing, yawning chasm of anger fountaing from under her ribs.
"Talk later."
The Good Example's head turns to affix that emerald stare towards the Graverobber.
"I gotta go kill someone, first," she hisses, arm curled tight and pressing the crate against the Good Example's side.
Jude's overclock device has one pump left and she lets the entire contents of the apparatus drain into her system to pair with what Dayton had just done to her machine. She shoulders the cannon, fingers curling into the hilt of the hidden blade within the armor and suddenly, she is gone in a flash. The green and gold streak she makes flashes in the dark, body surging forward, shoulders and head curved in like a scythe.
So as the Laughing Fox sets things on fire, and the Elymas fires something at the Graverobber's face and hopefully obscure its visual receptors, she takes advantage, rounding around its blind spot and... Something happens.
It's a flash of glittering green, motes of emerald expended in the dark when the hidden blade whips outward in the last second at her charging pass at the Graverobber, to drive it into its core.
"So about that collateral damage..." she transmits to both Jude and Morgan.
GS: Cassidy Cain has activated a Force Action! GS: Cassidy Cain has attacked Heal Berry with The Master Touch! GS: Cassidy Cain has completed her action. GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Morgan Newkirk's Deadeye for 55 hit points! GS: Heal Berry has activated a Force Action! GS: CRITICAL! Heal Berry guards a hit from Cassidy Cain's The Master Touch for 348 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
Malfi manages to hit something a bit more critical this time--the primary actuators in the Graverobber's left knee. Her lance punches through the armor on the side of the joint, and embeds itself so deeply that she has to work hard to wrench it loose again. The Gear almost stumbles, visibly sagging to its left side before its pilot compensates. Noeline tries to fire off another of those Legally Distinct From Air Slashes, but this time, the pilot's prepared. The Gear lets go of the cannon with one hand just long enough to interpose that forearm-shield between Noeline and itself. The armor buckles visibly, but holds for now. "You've got guts," the pilot says. "Now let's see what they look like!" With that, the Graverobber twists downwards, its rocket array aimed right at Malfi and Noeline. Six rockets fire in quick succession, turning the area around the both of them into a death zone.
Josie takes aim again. The Graverobber still hasn't gotten a clean hit on her, which is fortunate, since a clean hit would likely kill her instantly, or failing that, ensure a horrific death. Once again, she's on-target, her bullet racing into the hole Jedan made and striking something deeper within the machine's frame. One of the arm actuators? It's difficult to tell. More sparks fly. Bits of armor come off. Ambrosius's shot chases Josie's into the gap in the armor, and illuminates something in a flash of bright green light. That something then melts into a solid lump of slag, which starts oozing out of the wound like blood. The Graverobber's arm twitches and drops away, almost causing it to lose its cannon. Then the Gear's hand suddenly starts working again, and it grips the cannon.
The pilot sees Dva the instant before she strikes, and somehow manages to maneuver the Graverobber's shield in between her and the wounds in its torso, any one of which could become even worse if exposed to freezing temperatures. The shield takes the hit instead, buckling and deforming further as it's pulled between extremes of heat and cold. Morgan's shells slam into the shield next, causing one of its plates to simply break off from the impact. It tumbles through the air, hitting the ground with a thunderous crash.
With all this going on, the Graverobber's pilot seems to lose track of the crate. Cassidy is able to scoop it up. Jude lunging back out of the burning warehouse to punch the Graverobber in the face certainly helps; the plate seems to catch her off-guard, and it smacks into the Gear's face with a heavy crunch. It reels backwards, almost losing the cannon again. Its damaged head turns as the Good Example comes in for the kill. The nimbler Gear's fist slams into the Graverobber's chest. It hits dead-center. There's enough power behind it to core a Trooper, to kill its pilot instantly and reduce the machine to a mangled, smoldering mess. The Graverobber is a far more durable beast, but damned if Cassidy doesn't try. Emerald fury boils through the Graverobber's frame, melting a full third of its chest armor in a single go. Gobbets of molten alloy flow off it, like water off an icicle.
The Three-Dragon Cannon was designed to implement three kinds of Dragon Filaments in tandem: ignition filaments for turning electricity into heat, conductive filaments to channel electricity, and nullifier filaments to neutralize heat energy. They have individual functions and firing modes, but the real beauty is when they work in tandem--the ignition filaments superheating air until it turns into a plasma, the conductive filaments helping guide it with electrical current, and the nullifier filaments keeping the whole thing from overheating. The end result:
A beam of honest-to-God plasma, which the Graverobber rakes across the field at any and all targets of opportunity. It's taking some care to avoid collateral damage, but not much.
ELSEWHERE
Ida smashes bloodied knuckles into a thief's face. The man's head whips to the side, spraying blood and shards of teeth. He's barely hit the dirt before two more of them come at her--Ida grabs the collar of her first assailant, twists on her heels, and throws him into the second. Both of them go down in a heap. More are coming. She needs to send the signal now that she's relatively clear.
Ida raises the flare gun and fires. A single flare shoots skyward, exploding in a burst of green chemical smoke. Cassidy and Jude know that this means backup is on its way.
GS: Heal Berry has attacked Malfi with Stylish Bouquet! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Noeline with Stylish Bouquet! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Three-Dragon Cannon - Plasma Breath! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Ambrosius with Three-Dragon Cannon - Plasma Breath! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Morgan Newkirk with Three-Dragon Cannon - Plasma Breath! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Riesenlied with Three-Dragon Cannon - Plasma Breath! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Jude Moshe with Three-Dragon Cannon - Plasma Breath! GS: Heal Berry has attacked Cassidy Cain with Three-Dragon Cannon - Plasma Breath! GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Three-Dragon Cannon - Plasma Breath for 167 hit points! GS: Jude Moshe takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Three-Dragon Cannon - Plasma Breath for 328 hit points! GS: Morgan Newkirk guards a hit from Heal Berry's Three-Dragon Cannon - Plasma Breath for 202 hit points! GS: Ambrosius guards a hit from Heal Berry's Three-Dragon Cannon - Plasma Breath for 113 hit points! GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Heal Berry's Three-Dragon Cannon - Plasma Breath for 168 hit points! GS: Cassidy Cain takes a glancing hit from Heal Berry's Three-Dragon Cannon - Plasma Breath for 159 hit points! GS: Malfi guards a hit from Heal Berry's Stylish Bouquet for 93 hit points!
DC: 3 turns have elapsed in the battle against Heal Berry! -3 turns remain!
<Pose Tracker> Malfi has posed.
The battered, bruised and burned biologist staggers under Graverobber's assault but somehow remains standing. She moves to counterattack, careful not to get within the Gear's striking range. Once again she tries to synchronize with the Gear's Dragon parts, aiming to confuse them. Will it work?
GS: Malfi has attacked Heal Berry with Dead Reckoning! GS: Malfi takes 8 damage from Poison! GS: Malfi has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied blinks softly as Daytona identifies her and runs. "Ah... yes, thank you," she speaks, just a little off-guard. Was she really that bad at disguising herself? (Yes, Riese, the question to that is always going to be yes.)
She watches just for a moment, but the sound of violence clahses near her in a way that seems all too telling. There is a deep-lined frown from the Hyadean as she sneaks closer to the side of the warehouse-- and the sound of three ARM shots are all the more obvious as she gazes into what is happening.
She catches a glimpse of Ida, eyes widening. ... and frowns gently as she steps forward, a glimpse of the Tear shimmering and no doubt catching Ida's attention -- but nonetheless pacifying those that are coming after her.
She doesn't say anything to the heiress of Everstead-Rey-turned-martial artist, even as the thugs cower and whimper, seemingly stunned into penance by the light of Riesenlied's empathic aura.
Dva yelps with a cry as the plasma starts to fry around Icedrake's form, and she has to pull back with a squeak of, "Hey, hey, I know I'm electrifying but this is a bit too much isn't it?!"
At around this time, a couple is resigning that their night is just about ruined at this point, especially as the butt of an anti-materiel sniper rifle smashes their window open.
"We'll foot you the repair bill!" Jedan waves jovially, then takes aim... he can only hope that the Graverobber's pilot's assumed that he was out of the match. He'd prove her wrong.
POP! With a deafening noise, Jedan's sniper rifle launches another one of those ballooning armor-breaching rounds...
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Heal Berry with Rising Heart - 'Wave-Particle Duality'! GS: Riesenlied has completed her action. GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Riesenlied's Rising Heart - 'Wave-Particle Duality' for 0 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak! Statuses applied to Heal Berry! GS: Noeline critically Guards a hit from Heal Berry's Stylish Bouquet for 89 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Dayton Derrida has posed.
"It'll be the best story I've ever made up," Day quips as he finishes fussing with Cassidy's gear before sliding his way back down into the Good Example's hands and back to the ground. He hits the surface on both heels.
He lands harder than expected. A lance of pain shoots through his left knee as gravity and muscles try unconsciously to bend it more than it will bend. There's a faint sound of something snapping before he crumples to land on his other knee, hissing through his teeth and bring a hand down to the left leg. He presses his palm to his kneecap and clenches his teeth.
Blushing, he lowers his head with a pained, bitter smile. His eyes close for a moment.
the report of rifle muzzles blasts through the insane heat of that old memory. he breathes in and feels the metallic bitterness of too many friends' blood, the ozone of too much spilled lead. everything hurts and it's not just what he sees when he looks down and finds what he is fairly sure is his leg from the inside. coarse grains of memory pass through his fingers. he clutches for something. tries not to hear the shrieking and the thunder of muzzle flares--
With a fierce shake of his head, Day clenches his teeth and centres his mind on what's at hand. Breathes in and feels the sting of gunpowder tainting the air like machine spice. Feels the way the remnants of the pier rattle beneath her feet.
"Running away again," he laughs sardonically to himself as he picks up his cane again and digs the butt of it in. He begins to lurch away about as fast as he can with his leg feeling like someone set off a land mine somewhere behind his kneecap. It's not quite fast enough - not anymore - and he's able to watch some of the fight play out as he limps his way towards safety.
That includes watching Morgan on fire. He pauses and waves his free hand in the air. "For Granas's sake, man, vent your backup reservoir before you become a human rasher of smoked bacon!" he shouts across the distance, perhaps louder than is really necessary.
GS: Dayton Derrida has attacked Morgan Newkirk with Do It Right Foxboi!!! GS: Dayton Derrida has completed his action. GS: Morgan Newkirk takes a solid hit from Dayton Derrida's Do It Right Foxboi!! for 0 hit points! GS: Reload! Morgan Newkirk gains 15 extra FP from Dayton Derrida! GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Malfi's Dead Reckoning for 73 hit points! GS: Jam! Statuses applied to Heal Berry!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Another fairly clean hit. Josie will take it.
There's just one little problem with this scenario. Sure, she has the size advantage here when it comes to hitting -- like shooting a fly off the wall, not easy to do -- but there's a one thing she's reminded about shooting at flies:
One hit and they're done for.
Like... so.
The Graverobber turns its gun in her direction. Smoke is her only warning of what's to come, and even that's not enough this time. Flame rolls forth--
The building Josie's using as cover promptly goes up like a tinderbox and explodes just as cleanly, the backwash of heat and flame not sparing her even for a second. Falling back, one hand raised to shield her face -- her only good hand raised to shield her face -- the last anyone might expect to see of Josie would be her figure as embers and flame rain down upon her.
In the end there's a blazing wreck of what was a once a packed warehouse, a few beams still standing -- and burning -- amidst the inferno.
There's no sign of Josie.
Josie, instead, slides free from the wreckage, badly singed and burnt but still kicking. The coat alone is going to take a hell of a repair job, if she bothers with fixing it at all.
...Shit, she's even a little on fire.
Talk about bad memories.
She stays low by what was once a warehouse, hoping the Gear doesn't decide to make sure of the job, and slowly begins to murmur the words of a spell.
Just the basics, he'd called it. Even a fool could learn the basics.
...She hates it when that bastard's right about the basics.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has activated a Force Action!
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
So, about that collateral damage, says Cassidy Cain, driving a blade straight for the potentially volatile core of an active Gear.
"Well," says Jude Moshe haphazardly, as the plate of Elymas' proverbial shell snaps back into place on its back,
"At least you thought about doing the best you could."
He'll take what he can get.
And so, with a long-suffering sigh, Jude Moshe rubs the back of his neck as he stares at the data he's been recording off of the Graverobber. He seems intent on it for a moment, as if trying to glean the make of the thing from the information available to him and what he can piece together from context clues...
... and that's when the Graverobber's cannon ignites with the pump of plasma ionizing the air.
There's a faint look of familiarity within the comfortably hidden depths of Jude's cockpit at the sight of pure energy and rippling heat that cuts a course across the pier.
But recognition does not do especially much for defense.
Plasma screams across the battlefield, and before the Elymas can react, it is engulfed in that bright flare of heat like the breath of a dragon itself. Armor just melts off in bulk from the Elymas' well-armored hide; one optic bursts from sheer heat, a leg starts to fuse itself into the superheated stone beneath it before he forcibly -moves- the thing forward.
But Jude Moshe doesn't just let this happen. Or at least, not without retribution. He sees that burst of smoke, jade dissipating in the sky. Just a matter of time now. And as that dragon's breath cooks the Elymas through --
--plates -shunt- from the blinding light of plasma, one by one, glowing with pent up heat as rocket boosters upon the back of those makeshift shield platings activate one by one. Directed by remote, they twist through the air in a controlled descent, unable to keep up any form of genuine flight. But it does give them extreme, dizzying velocity as they bend towards the Graverobber and -slam- into the ground, circling around it rapidly before -driving- forward one plate at a time to pincer the thing in place.
And then just -compress-. With rocket-fueled pressure.
GS: Jude Moshe has attacked Heal Berry with Masters of War! GS: Jude Moshe has completed his action. GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Ambrosius with Strengthen! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Noeline with Strengthen! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Ambrosius takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Strengthen for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Ambrosius! GS: Ambrosius enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
Melting metal hisses and spits. Globs of it fall from armor; nearly the full length of Cassidy's hidden blade is inside the Graverobber, somehow missing its pilot and retaining its core functionality. But it burns emerald and gold, still, coruscating through metal that cannot be ordinary - Symbology? Something else? Who knows, there's simply too much heat, too much light to be able to discern what the blonde conwoman has managed to put in the thing that she has used in an attempt to kill this bitch and rid the entire world of her presence once and for all.
And then, the nine circles of hell open up.
Everyone else is attacking, but the thief steadfastly holds her ground; the Good Example's stance widens against the pier and as jets of plasma fire rockets towards everyone else, she doesn't even bother to move that far away. All she does in that initial salvo is move her head, twist her body, to prevent herself from getting incinerated in her cockpit, but otherwise she lets it happen. Cloaked by fire, the Good Example burns like a towering beacon in the dark, ripping through its armor plating and scorching its green trim. Small warnings flit across her screens, she can feel it rippling over her controls, sizzling through her gloves and leaving angry red welts on her skin. This close, she sees nothing but heat and flame.
Adrenaline intensifies her fury, razing through her nerves, lighting every single receptor in her body like a Christmas tree.
And she laughs. Laughs through the pain. Laughs through the beads of sweat blossoming through her skin, on the verge of getting cooked inside of her own gear. It rises in pitch, in its ecstatically agonized and agonizingly ecstastic crescendo, because she is never more alive than when she is about to die.
But she is not letting go of the hilt of her sword.
Still burning, still laughing, she twists the blade into the Graverobber, and starts to carve the embedded blade into its circuits.
"How do you like it, luv? My style?" Screaming, melting metal falls away from her blade like butter. "I have it on good authority that being on fire suits me."
She'll attempt to cut as much of it as she can before tearing her burning blade free. Smoke wafts from her as she suddenly twists, to slam her foot into the Graverobber's center mass in an attempt to send it flying towards the Elymas's barrage.
GS: Cassidy Cain has attacked Heal Berry with The Master Touch! GS: Cassidy Cain has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
He can't help but smirk as the Gear nearly loses its cannon from the damage they'd dealt to it. There was something satisfying about that.
He's in position now, and he takes a moment to remove a part from his ARM. The Veritas Varia was made to be a variable weapon, consisting of multiple parts that could be swapped in and out at will as the situation required.
This particular attachment was something special, and one he hasn't used in quite some time.
He takes aim at the Graverobber...but unfortunately for him, however, it hadn't completely lost its weapon. And now it was using it at first force.
A beam of plasma rakes across the field. Rakes toward him. Even with his armor, a direct hit from that weapon could be fatal. He leaps high into the air to avoid it, but even that does not save him from its intense power. The heat burns, only intensified by the deathly chill it had attacked with earlier...and what's worse, it melts down his perch underneath him.
...This might prove problematic.
"If there are any dragons available...I might require pick-up. And Noeline...move." He transmits to anyone listening in. But while he's up there, he takes aim again anyway and fires.
The shot this time is a red bolt, aimed once more for the weakpoint created by Jedan...but after traveling a certain point it expands, a terrible, violent detonation of crackling red energy that seeks to simply destroy everything around it.
GS: Ambrosius has activated a Force Action! GS: You have activated the Force Action Full Clip! GS: Ambrosius has attacked Heal Berry with VV-EXCIDIUM! GS: Ambrosius has completed his action. GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Jude Moshe's Masters of War for 194 hit points! GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Cassidy Cain's The Master Touch for 204 hit points! GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Ambrosius's VV-EXCIDIUM for 217 hit points! GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Josephine Lovelace's Strengthen for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Noeline!
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline can spot shut-out tactics when she sees them; she's too small a target to really offer much of a threat to the unknown Gear, at least as far away as she is now, and spreading around a bunch of superheated plasma is certainly a way to ensure she stays that way, if she continues to dodge around it. So, instead, she grits her teeth, lifts her blade up to cover her - and races forwards through the flame instead, ignoring the way that the pockets of heat burst around her and buffet off her shield.
The effort of it is wearying, but she pushes forwards, more feeling for the Graverobber's location rather than watch for it, blinded by the flames as she is. She hears a voice over her communications - over their link, Ambrosius' command to move resonates in her ear.
So, with an already broad grin widening on her face, she does. Already at a run, she finds it within herself to put on a further burst of speed; for a complex and confusing moment, she nearly outspeeds the shot that the Nimue fires ahead of her, racing straight into the blossoming and angry explosion of crimson lightning that the Veruni machine detonates in front of her. The cloud twists and billows as she drives recklessly into it, her blade shining with a telltale blackened light of Duras Drum's power that seems to suck up the cloud of destruction--
--before abruptly stretching it outwards in a strange, almost-solid fashion as Noeline bursts out the other side, carving a long, thin line of rolling darkness along the Gear's leg. She bunches with effort, ignoring the way her legs ache and sear with pain - and then launches herself back in the same direction, a second slash repeating where the first has yet to fade away.
GS: Noeline has activated a Force Action! GS: Noeline has attacked Heal Berry with Infinite Slash! GS: Noeline has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Heal Berry guards a hit from Noeline's Infinite Slash for 281 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
The Laughing Fox comes around. The flank is open and its a perfect position for him to do something about it. Morgan's targeting system fritzes again though, refusing to lock on. The amount of damange this Gear is taking is increadible. The fact that its still on fire is a problem. And now there is so old man with a cane yelling at him?!
"OH MY GOD IF I VENT THE BACKU--" He trails off as he kicks the controls and the heat spikes downwards in the system. "--ok that worked. THANKS STRANGE OLD MAN!"
These freeking Kislevite Gears are not what he's used too.
Still though the fire control isn't working the legs are getting slow and the--
And the giant Box of Doom is aiming at him.
"Ah hell."
The plasma fire that hammers into him tears the last of the armor from his right side and most of the center of Morgan's machine. Internals are exposed to the gleaming light of day. There isn't much left to worry about being on fire because there really isn't much left of the machine after that volley.
Morgan's cockpit shatters inward as shrapnel peppers the fox. Dots of crimson from a dozen tiny cuts appear as he takes stock of just what he can do.
Then he smiles.
"Hey Cass! Hold still I'm gonna do something, really stupid!"
And then he's charging forwards. Towards the Box. Right where no sane person would go in a Gear that is ruined as it is.
As he runs he builds up speed, fingers flying over the controls. Overloading safty systems as he goes. The ammo linkage from his autocannon is disconnected as he swings his arm free and then whips it forwards to wrap the full length of ammo feed around the thief's canon arm.
And he doesn't stop. He just sends the Laughting Fox barreling into the Box even as he unhooks his safty harnesses. Adding to Cassidy's kick as he pulls out a grapel line and fires it towards the Good Example.
Its the closest friendly after all.
Hooking himself onto the other Gear he is snatched away as the much faster machine kicks and jets away, leaving the Laughing Fox teathered to the Box Thief by...
...an ammo feed...
That is now on fire...
...and set to overload.
"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!"
He shouts it with mad laughter as the wind tears the breath from his throat and he hangs on to the outside of his new ride with everything he can. Cause if he falls that might end...poorly.
GS: Morgan Newkirk has attacked Heal Berry with Laughing Fox! GS: Morgan Newkirk takes 12 damage from Corrode! GS: Morgan Newkirk has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Dayton Derrida has posed.
"I'm twenty-six!" Day shouts back at Morgan, waving his cane.
GS: Heal Berry guards a hit from Morgan Newkirk's Laughing Fox for 235 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
If there are any dragons available... I might require pick-up.
Ambrosius, as it turns out, doesn't have to wait long. Because a looming shadow peeeeeeeeeeks out from around the corner of a building. A teardrop-shaped shadow.
"Muniii?"
<Pose Tracker> Heal Berry has posed.
The Graverobber's armor is a wreck. There really isn't anything it can do to keep Jedan from shooting it some more, and those armor-mangling rounds haven't gotten any less effective. The Gear develops several new rents in its armor, and while Malfi's attunement shenanigans don't get a stable foothold, they do ensure the Graverobber doesn't try to kill Jedan again--at least immediately. It twitches a little, and several elements on the cannon start sparking. Jude and Ambrosius take shameless advantage of this. Jude's shields rush in from every direction, trying to crush the Graverobber's torso like a piece of junk thrown into a trash compactor. Ambrosius all but detonates the machine's right shoulder, and only its failsafes keep the rocket magazine from cooking off to cause further damage. Metal starts to strain and buckle under the pressure. Are those literally Metal Dragon ribs reinforcing its torso? Certainly are. Whatever this Gear originally was, it's been thoroughly-reinforced with Dragon biomatter. Reforged fossil material groans. Riesenlied might find the emotional side-effects unpleasant.
"I love it," comes the response from within the Gear, almost as unhinged as Cassidy, even through the filtering. The Good Example's blade goes to work, chopping into the Graverobber's innards with frenzied enthusiasm. With the arm disabled, there isn't much the pilot can do to keep her away. Noeline's blade does terrible things to the Graverobber's legs, cutting through its armor with the power of darkness. Another thruster housing dies an inglorious death, and another. If she keeps it up, the Graverobber won't be able to get away--
And its pilot seems to realize this. The machine looks like it's been chewed on by every Sandworm in the desert, but it's still going. Its pilot guns the engines, trying to lift off; Morgan's line snags around its arm, tethering the burning, exploding Laughing Fox to its wrist.
MEANWHILE
Ida lowers the flare gun and turns to the Hyadean that she knows is there. There is no mistaking that aura of serenity for anything else. Part of her is glad that she's not going to have to injure anyone else today--even the goons she shot are largely in one piece, though at least one might not walk again. Another part of her is resentful. "Well, if it isn't Ms. Carver," Ida says. She stows the flare gun in its holster. "I know why you're here, but not why you found me." She's tense. Angry. The anger is a lifeline, and she's clinging to it because the alternative is feeling helpless.
"Things are going to get interesting any minute now..." Ida glances around, making sure the nearby goons are pacified, and then starts walking towards the port.
A dull roar rises over the horizon. Those with IFF displays may well notice the presence of more incoming machines--more Gears. Then, there is another unusual sound, from much closer to the ground, a sound that is extremely rare in Ignas: the sound of a benzene engine. Several of them, in fact. Four motor-coaches, each roughly the size of the CaraKin (on the outside, anyway) burn rubber down the city streets. Each one consists of a cab and some sort of boxy, armored element that's much bigger--they're personnel carriers. Each one has a symbol on the hood: the Dragon-Seal of Guild Galad. They pull to a stop. Armored, armed soldiers start piling out of them, combing the streets for fleeing or unconscious or pacified ruffians. The Gears, meanwhile...
Three of them jet through the sky, trying to pin down the Graverobber before it can escape. They're much sleeker, though no less well-armed for it; they, too, have Galadian crests and colors, and one of them has some sort of Metal Dragon skull worked into a shoulder plate. It brandishes a rod studded with conductive filaments, as if aching for a chance to use it.
The Graverobber's pilot makes a sacrifice. The machine's entire right limb pops off, taking a chunk of its torso with it. The Laughing Fox hits ground, followed by the Graverobber's components, and the stolen ARM that was repurposed for its use. The Graverobber itself suddenly glows--first incandescent, then entirely too painful to look at. The glow neatly drowns out the glow of the Symbols deep within its frame, now exposed.
By the time the spell fades, it's gone.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied cups her mouth for a moment, feeling disturbed by the echo of something -- something happening outside. It feels like the howl of a Dragon suffering in pain... but not one of her own. She knows the sensation that she feels when one of the Ebony Wings' Dragons are harmed... she can hear the voices.
No... this was more like the voice of a Dragon that had been forcefully-- misshapen, twisted into some horrific, macabre imitation of something else...
"Thank Josephine," Riesenlied murmurs placidly as she follows her outside. "She found you first. Though I trust you had it well in hand."
She gazes towards the armored cars, her eyes widening for a moment. She'd only seen that seal once before, the Dragon-Seal of Guild Galad. She isn't... certain what to make of it. On the one hand, heralding the dragon as a symbol of strength... yet, on the other hand, supping upon its remnants as its building block.
But as she paces closer towards the pier, she senses something heat--
"Get away from that Gear!" she finds herself announcing, but it's too late; it doesn't exactly explode like she expects, however. Instead, it's just...
...gone.
"... a teleporting Gear? I've not encountered such technology... could it be a Zeboim frame? Or..." Riesenlied murmurs to herself, sighing with a little bit of frustration. She glances towards the armed men, and lowers her head.
She glances towards where the Good Example has her crate, as well. This was looking like a loss for her, certainly.
<Pose Tracker> Dayton Derrida has posed.
It's hard to escape when your means of locomotion includes one bad leg that keeps screaming at you about how much it hurts. This is the quandry that is Dayton Derrida.
He's managing, at least, and he's gotten far enough away that the fighting out past the edge of the pier doesn't come close enough to hurt him - which suits him just fine, fleshy meatsack that he is. Looking back over his shoulder, he presses his lips together at the sight of the Graverobber being systematically dismantled.
Stranger, though, is the sound of something vibrating overhead. Slowing, Day frowns deeply and looks up towards the source of the noise.
The sight of the three Gears streaking through the sky is enough to pull a high, disbelieving laugh from him. "Well! Things must be awfully serious if they're showing off those this far from home! What have I gotten myself into... what have I indeed." With another dry chuckle, he shakes his head, standing and looking on from a distance as Galadian soldiers begin to pour out of those arriving vehicles.
Day sighs and shakes his head, beginning to pick his way to a spot close enough that he can assess the damage a little more accurately now that the worst of the fighting has passed.
The nice thing about his being a young guy with a cane and a limp is that the Galadians are likely to assume he's exactly what he is: A harmless bystander.
Albeit a harmless bystander who's curious about bizarre teleporting Gears and who's also probably going to try and get a few bucks out of Morgan Newkirk in exchange for a repair job.
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Though Noeline most likely couldn't see it, Ambrosius was nodding appreciatively at her excellent use of his projectile. It was clever thinking on her part. Unfortunately for him though, he's still falling and he can't appreciate it too much.
But there, peeking out around the corner of a building, is a familiar tear-drop shaped silhouette. Ambrosius grabs on, climbing to the top of the dragon. It might be a little rough, but he does offer her a friendly pat in apology.
"You have my gratitude." He says, then turns to observe the situation. The enemy Gear was gone...and the crate was in the hands of an unfamiliar Gear. Not only that, vehicles carrying soldiers were arriving...
This could be a problem.
"Your orders?" Ambrosius asks, shouldering the Veritas Varia. He would leave it to Riesenlied how they dealt with the situation.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Noeline's assault doesn't let up, shearing away cables and exhaust ports, twisting vents into useless misshapen lumps; if she can reach it, it's fair game, harrying the Gear in the only way she knows how given her size. But it's not like she's infallible - and she's forced to dodge away from the falling arm as it's blown off the Graverobber, hopping backwards and away from the wreckage as it slams to the ground. The next moment she's snapped her head up, watching with a grimace as she jukes backwards and away from the machine as it teleports out.
"--haaah--..." she sighs, feeling her exhaustion catch up to her; she nearly wobbles down onto one knee, but grits her teeth and instead lets her sword wink away to wherever it came from, glancing up as Riesenlied emergences from the warehouse to meet her eyes. For once, she looks like the one who needs support, though she does at least try to play casual as she shakes her arms out, and moves to her partner's side as she watches the armored carriers roll on in.
"... I didn't expect such a show of force, I have to admit," she mutters privately, loud enough to come over her commlink; she prefers not to say more than that, it seems, just watching to see the aftermath of the assault. It's not like she can help it, but there is a certain wariness to her frame, and the way she maneuvers ready to cover Riese.
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
Morgan's about to sacrifice his gear.
Oh, there's a warning, and all Cassidy can really do is brace herself for the insanity to follow. With the hatch popping open from the Laughing Fox, the ridiculously agile gear takes several leaping steps back, to expose her outer shoulder where the fox runs the risk of getting burned alive less, the grappling hook pulling him away from the Graverobber. Eyes catch the reinforcements that Ida has called, sleeker machines dropping from the sky in an attempt to ensnare the blocky, bulkier machine...
...only for those efforts to be all for naught.
It simply vanishes. She doesn't know how or why, between the three of them, Jude and Morgan are infinitely the more mechanically inclined ones, and she can't even begin to fathom just what kind of technological marvel or sorcery that would produce a teleporting gear. But she simply closes her eyes and rolls her head back, beads of clean perspiration slipping along her throat and pooling at the sensitive dip of her collarbones where a string of pearls have made its permanent home.
"Fook's sake," she mutters. A few more minutes and she would have been able to melt through the entire chest cavity and at least see who they're dealing with precisely.
Maybe Jude's data will yield further insight, but for now...
"You two alright?" the Good Example broadcasts to Morgan and her partner, hitching up the crate she's kept wedged against her side.
Green lenses tilt away, but not towards her two comrades. The stare she levies towards Ida Everstead-Rey, once she's emerged from her gambit, is a cutting, but inquiring one.
Well, now what?
<Pose Tracker> Jude Moshe has posed.
The Elymas is still sizzling with conducted heat by the time Jude Moshe hears the distinct sound of a motor-coach's engine on the horizon, and the more distinctive sound of a flight-capable Gear's engine roar. It's enough to arrest amber-eyed attention as the damaged head of the Elymas groans out a twist towards the source of those sounds.
The Dragon-Seal of Guild Galad.
With...
A dark red brow lifts a fraction of an inch at the sight of those strange, distinctive gears. The corner of Jude's lip pulls into a ponderous line.
"Wow," he mutters to himself, within the comfortable silence of his cockpit. "Finished already, huh? Spare no expense for the flights of fancy of the Everstead-Reys, I guess."
But whatever might be going on within those cool, amber eyes, those thoughts are stolen at the eye-catching sight of Symbology at use within the Graverobber. It shines as painfully bright as a star, and by the time that surge of symbologic energy completes its circuit--
--The Graverobber and its pilot are long gone, leaving only an arm for their troubles.
"Well. That's a headache I'm not being paid to care about, so... mission success, eh?"
And with the highly-dedicated proclamation of a lazy professional at work broadcasted to all, the Elymas shifts about, driving towards where the Laughing Fox has fallen.
"I'm still breathing, despite my best intentions," is Jude's effortlessly glib response to the cooling Cassidy, turning his gaze upon the Good Example from the peripherals of his vision. "Looks like you are despite yours, too." His attention shifts, towards Morgan's Gear. "How about you, Morg? Still alive?"
And, with that wondering question posed, the Elymas will reach down to grasp that fallen chunk of arm and body, intent to rest it over its cooling shoulder as the steam slowly dwindles off its armored plating.
"Hey, might be worth something," is about all he provides as an explanation. "I get the feeling we're gonna need all we can get, anyway."
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
"It would be a fool who would fight when we are spent as we are," Riesenlied responds to Ambrosius' question. "We should retreat for now."
The live Dragons stare towards the Seal for a moment, as if perplexed why they're emblazoned on the backs of such strange vehicles such. Salamandra sweeps down, wreathed in flame as she is, with Jedan in tow; it isn't long before he extends a hand for Riesenlied and Noeline both, giving them a lift towards the Dragon's back as Dva looms around with her spear in hand.
"We will need to reopen the investigation anew. There was hired muscle in the warehouse that could perhaps provide a name or an avenue to our disappearing thief... but..."
She glances towards the group of armed soldiers that have surrounded them.
"That will have to wait for another day."
The Dragons rise, as she glances towards the assemblage of soldiers with ARMs, the armored coaches... and the flying Gears as well. Is this a glimpse of what humans were like in the west? The kind of use of their ancestors that truly has her brethren in loathing of humans.... and now she's lost one of her largest Fossils, as well. She's... failed her ancestors. Once, that skull in Cassidy's Gear's hand was laid to rest, hopefully forever...
... and now, it was out there, possibly to be used for violence once more.
"... Ebony Wings. Fall back," she murmurs.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida keeps walking, stiff-backed, as the reinforcements do their thing. One of the Firedrakes reaches down to pry the Graverobber's arm off the fallen cannon, allowing Elymas to take the severed bits of Gear. It turns the weapon over, inspecting it for damage--it's beaten-up, but not a write-off. Far from it.
"It's secure," says the Firedrake's pilot. The machine picks the cannon up and slots it into its own weapon-storage claw. It's a bit of an awkward fit, but it works.
"Good," Ida says, raising her voice. "Jude, Cassidy, Morgan, thank you for your service. I'll arrange for whatever repairs--"
Something else explodes on the Laughing Fox. God dammit, Ida thinks, how can this possibly get any more expensive? She sighs.
The Ebony Wings retreat. Ida is... glad, honestly, though she honestly isn't sure there could have been any other outcome. A tiny part of her feels sick. Another tiny part of her feels a glimmer of vicious satisfaction. She should be satisfied.
Instead she just feels tired.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
Morgan clambers up the side of Cassidy's Gear to sit on the shoulder of the warmachine. A smirk crosses his lips. "You are the worst example. You know that right?" He asks of her before he waves off the question. "I'm fine." He adds with a grin as he glances down at the wreck that was his Gear. "Nothin' but more scars to impress the ladies with. Poor Gear though..."
There is a wince as secondary explosions start to go off internally. After being so abused and then dropped to the sky like dead weight. There isn't much left of the thing. "...good thing I swapped the engine and most of the power systems into the new one before this. I mean I was gonna give that one to Wessen."
More explosions go off.
"Buuuut now...not so much."
He waves towards Jude from his position on Cassidy's Gear too. "Of course I'm still alive! God take more than that to kill me." A beatpause. "Dibs on that things gun though!"
Thats right. He's calling dibs.
They are alive, the three of them. Thats what matters most to him, even if the theif got away. There was always time to track them down later.
Patiance is a virtue.
And that theif would learn that one day, right before their Gear blows up.
<Pose Tracker> Dayton Derrida has posed.
The honest-to-Granas truth is that Day had no idea Ida was even on the scene. He's close enough now to make it out, though.
Letting his breath out in a pained rush, Day stops near a smaller crate to take a short break. He reaches down to rub at his injured kneecap but doesn't try to bend it, simply letting it remain straight with the knee held at about a seven-degree angle but going no further than that. When he looks up, he watches the Ebony Wings soaring off into the sunset.
When he looks back down, he sighs and begins to move forward, just close enough to hear Ida raising her voice and calling out to the others.
"You won't have to arrange very far, Ida," he calls out a bit wearily as he makes his way into earshot, a bit pained but otherwise in better shape than one might expect for someone who hasn't Drifted in a few years.
Day flashes her a tight smile. "...I'll save you a little bit of cash on those," he suggests more quietly. "Let's talk later."
<Pose Tracker> Cassidy Cain has posed.
Looks like you are despite yours, too.
"Ay, well. You made sure of that, luv. I'm not above giving credit where credit is due. For some inexplicable reason, you really make it hard for me tae die."
The overclock device was something Jude could have used himself. God knows a bulky, unwieldy turtle-shelled gear like the Elymas could use all of the speed it can get, but he sacrificed the use of it to augment the Good Example's agility, instead, enabling it to fight even more like she can on foot, in the thick of it, content to trust the heavily customized Kislevi machine to withstand whatever punishments were doled its way. By the looks of its outer shell, the faith is not at all misplaced...but considering all the damage done, it is still a shave too close for the green-eyed woman's liking.
Morgan's words from her shoulder has the head of her gear angling and tilting down slightly, to regard his mostly intact state and one that is far more whole than the state of his mech. "Sounds like your machine can use a full makeover, Morgan," she remarks, somewhat distractedly as she assesses the damage on the Elymas from her peripheral sights. "I ken a guy. He's right here, actually, somewhere. Dayton Derrida."
Relief she can't admit to causes tremors to ripple over pale digits.
After a moment, that piercing verdant gaze falls on the Ebony Wings' collective at the distance, metallic fingers drumming faintly on the crate tucked up against the machines.
Tap tap. Tap tap. Tap tap tap. It's a mindless tune, indicative of her musical leanings, silently waiting for the Metal Demons' next move. The question is a silent one, given weight by the way she intently looks in that direction.
Will they dare to try?
...it seems not, when their leader makes the order to fall back.
Part of her is relieved - not out of the lack of will to engage them, she is itching for an excuse, especially when the very root of her reasons for detesting Riesenlied and everything she stands for is standing right next to her. And part of her is extremely disapppointed that she can't, for all of those other reasons.
You are the worst example, you know that?
"Ay, well. I'll take that shite too." There's a glance at the arm Jude pulls from the wreckage. "Interesting, that. What do you think, luv? Bidding war? Got tae recoup our losses somehow, just like you said."
<Pose Tracker> Ambrosius has posed.
Retreat. Yes, he supposed that was the wisest course of action. There was no telling if those soldiers would turn to violence...and while he was confident in his abilities, he wasn't sure he could deal with that many in his current condition.
"Very well. Let us depart." He agrees. Not that he has much choice in the matter. Muni-muni would most likely do whatever Riesenlied asked of her. He was just a passenger here.
This mission could partially be considered a loss. They had been unable to apprehend the thief and the dragon skull had been taken.
Not their finest hour, to be sure.
It didn't bother him all that much, but Riesenlied... Well, he was more concerned about how she would be taking this.
<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.
Clasping Jedan's hand, Noeline summons the strength to haul herself up towards the offered perch; she clings onto Riesenlied's side for support as she swings onto Salamandra's back, watching with a muted huff as the rest of the Guild Galad forces drop into position and, in the process, implicitly lay claim to the Dragon Fossil that was the bait to draw out their thief.
For a moment, the twintailed girl wonders if it might be worth offering a quip as they leave, or at the very least an honest entreaty - but something in both the air and Riesenlied's tone suggests it's not worth pushing her luck, and she'd be the first to admit that she's depleted and tired from the events of the last few days, far from being able to withstand the sort of trouble that awaits them should they try.
"... well," she sighs instead, hunkering down against the wind as the dragon begins to lift into the air; she doesn't really feel like she's got the energy to say much more than that, just shaking her head as their group flees from the scene.
<Pose Tracker> Morgan Newkirk has posed.
"Ya know," Morgan leans against the side of Cassidy's frame. "'The Worst Example'. That totally should be the name of Jude's Gear."